Click here for a short summary of the issue. Click here for a detailed timeline.
See also the Pension Rights Center website.
Click here for ex-St. Peter's CEO John Matuska's 2011 letter to the IRS.
Click here for ex-St. Peter's VP of HR Bruce Pardo's 2011 letter to the IRS.
Haga clic aqui para verun resumen del problema en español.


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

"Church Plans" In The News

New posts coming VERY soon. For now, here's some media coverage of other organizations that have taken advantage of the "church plan" loophole to escape Federal oversight:

Pensions in Peril Over Church Exemptions – New York Times, May 2006
This early article highlights the story of the Hospital Center at Orange, which in 2003 obtained "church plan" status and stopped contributing to its pension plan. Note: the Times limits non-subscribers to 20 articles a month.

IRS Nears Action on Church Pensions – Wall Street Journal, June 2010
This article also spotlights the Hospital Center at Orange fiascoand provides details of the current situation at Saint Peter's.

Church Workers' Pensions Lack Safeguards – NPR, May 2010
This article spotlights the collapsing pensions of Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, and Augsburg Fortress Publishers in Minnesota. These plans never enjoyed ERISA protection. Saint Peter's plan does... for now.

IRS Lifts Church Plan Moratorium But Imposes New Notice Requirements – Towers Watson, October 2011
Background on the lifting of the IRS's moratorium on church plan rulings. The IRS imposed the moratorium in 2007 in response to a lawsuit related to Hospital Center at Orange. In return for lifting the moratorium, the IRS required organizations such as Saint Peter's to notify "interested persons" that they had requested a ruling. This requirement generated the Notice to Interested Persons Saint Peter's issued November 21.