We already know that the global economic crisis is having far-reaching effects in the United States on the 401(k) plans of individuals and may also mean that fewer employers are able to afford offering health plans. Now comes word from foreign countries that have national pension schemes that the economic impact of the collapse is causing governments to invade the money in those national pensions.
This is not wholly unpredictable, but the Supreme Court in the ERISA case of Kennedy v. DuPont Savings Plan told the parties to brief an issue that pretty much dominated oral argument.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered lawyers to file new briefs by Nov. 10 on a new issue in a pending case testing a divorced spouse’s right to the other spouse’s pension benefits. The question was posed in Kennedy v. DuPont Savings Plan Administrator (07-636) — a case heard by the Justices on Oct. 7. The new question tests the application to the case of a part of federal benefit law that requires benefit plan administrators to operate the plan as dictated by plan documents — an issue that the Court appeared previously to have declined to hear . . . .
Wow. It looks like the big retailers are pulling out all stops to stop the Obama steamroller with captive audience meetings with their employees to engage in none-too-subtle office politicking (which JH has written about before).