Defined Benefits

The $150 million amount, which had been mentioned in Macys 10-K filing with the SEC in April, was the same amount contributed in 2012.

An 87-basis-point surge in interest rates and an 11.2 percent investment gain in 2013 powered a historic year in corporate pension funded status improvement, gaining $318 billion for the year.

Medical benefits of retirees are not considered vested and thus can be changed, the court said.

A U.S. District Court has sided with a pension plan sponsor seeking the return of a $725,000 overpayment made to a participant who elected to receive a lump sum payout.

To address those concerns, the new rates, proposed to account for increased longevity assumptions, would be phased in over five years beginning in fiscal 2016-17.

From about January 1988 to December 2013, the four primary defendants helped hundreds of applicants falsely claim disabilities in order to collect disability payments in addition to public pensions, according to the Manhattan District Attorneys office.

The big unknown is the effect of the stimulus on the equity market, said Zorast Wadia, principal and consulting actuary for Milliman Inc. in New York. A loss [in those markets] could offset gains garnered from higher interest rates.

Fully 46 percent of worker respondents to the Workplace Benefits Survey indicate they are extremely or very confident about their ability to get the treatments they need today.