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Wal-Mart to change health plans for new hires
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will stop offering traditional low-deductible health plans for new hires next year in favor of low-premium plans with higher deductibles, a move it says will put more health care money and choices in the hands of its more than 1.3 million U.S. workers.
Union-backed Wal-Mart critics, who made the change public Tuesday based on internal company documents, claimed the nation's largest private employer was pushing the rising costs of health care onto its workers.
Wal-Mart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will drop traditional plans for new hires from January 1. Those plans offer annual deductibles as low as $350 for a yearly premium of $1,043 for single person coverage.
New hires from next year will only be able to sign up for one of two plans that have premiums as low as $11 a month but annual deductibles starting at $1,000 for most medical expenses as well as separate deductibles for special events, like outpatient treatment, and for prescriptions.
Companies accused of 401(k) violations
LOS ANGELES - Lawsuits filed in four states accuse seven large companies of violating pension laws by allowing their employees to be overcharged by outside firms operating 401(k) retirement plans.
The employees were charged millions of dollars in excessive management fees, which often were hidden in obscure agreements and not disclosed to the workers, according to attorney Jerome Schlichter, who filed the suits earlier this month in federal district courts in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Missouri.
The companies named in the lawsuits are Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT), General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD), United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), Bechtel Group, Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) and International Paper Co. (NYSE: IP)
Together, the companies have more than 400,000 employees in 401(k) plans, according to the lawsuits.
Former Wachovia broker awarded $3.8M
NEW YORK - An arbitration panel awarded about $3.8 million to a former stockbroker who claimed he was wrongfully dismissed from Wachovia Securities amid the 2003 market-timing scandal.
The award, which includes interest, was recently handed down by a three-member arbitration panel organized by the National Association of Securities Dealers to Frederick O'Meally, a one-time broker at Prudential Securities.
O'Meally left Wachovia Securities in 2003 after Prudential Financial Inc. sold a majority stake in the brokerage business to Wachovia Corp. (NYSE: WB)
-From wire reports