Cash Balance Plan Pendulum Swings Lurie's Way

Based on his previous writings in the cash balance plan area, I assume that I will be hearing an "I told you so" from my friend, Alvin Lurie (pictured left), soon.  Here is another case, written up by PlanSponsor.com's NewsDash, finding a cash balance plan conversion not to be age discriminatory:

ACCRUAL "ACCOUNTING."  Employees suing a Houston energy company over age-discrimination allegations regarding its cash balance plan won one issue but lost another in a ruling by a federal judge in Colorado. U.S. District Judge Walker D. Miller of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado sided with a growing number of jurists in other cash balance cases when he ruled that El Paso Corporation's cash balance program did not violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).  Miller said he agreed with the majority of federal courts that have ruled the "rate of benefit accrual" in ERISA's age discrimination provision should be based on what an employer puts into a participant's plan account, and not what the worker takes out at retirement.

The full article can be found here.

PS