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From Human Resources

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January 18, 2011, Volume 57, No. 18

Over the last several years, a number of regulatory changes have been made to laws governing the administration of retirement plans. As a result, the University is now required to submit amended retirement plan documents to the IRS for approval. These amendments are simply changes in language to meet IRS requirements and not changes to the plan documents that will affect our plan participants.

However, we’re required to publish the following “Notices to Interested Parties” to inform plan participants that we’re submitting these amended documents.

—Division of Human Resources

 

University of Pennsylvania Retirement Allowance Plan: Notice to Interested Parties

This notice is to all present, regular employees of The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania who are potentially eligible to participate in the Retirement Allowance Plan of the University of Pennsylvania (the “RAP”) as described below.

An application is to be made to the Internal Revenue Service for an advance determination on the qualification of the following employee pension benefit plan:

Name of the Plan:
Retirement Allowance Plan of the University of Pennsylvania

Plan Number: 003

Name and Address of Applicant:

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
3401 Walnut Street, 527A
Philadelphia, PA  19104

Applicant’s Employer Identification Number: 23-1352685

Name and Address of Plan Administrator:

Vice President of Human Resources
University of Pennsylvania
3401 Walnut Street, Suite 527A
Philadelphia, PA  19104

The application will be filed on January 31, 2011 for an advance determination as to whether the RAP meets the qualification requirements of §401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, with respect to the RAP’s amendment.  The application will be filed with:

EP Determinations
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 12192
Covington, KY  41012-0192

The employees potentially eligible to participate under the RAP are: each person who is employed by The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (“University”) as (i) a regular, full-time, non-exempt or limited service employee not covered by a collective bargaining agreement; or (ii) a full-time non-exempt employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement if such agreement provides for participation in the RAP; or (iii) an exempt or non-exempt, part-time employee who attains age 21 and completes 1,000 or more hours of service during a 12-consecutive-month period beginning either on such employee’s employment commencement date, or if applicable July 1, and who is not otherwise specifically excluded from participating in the RAP. The following are excluded: (a) any student-worker (including any individual classified by the University as a resident, fellow, or intern or any other student-worker who is engaged in employment that is not intended to be for a permanent and indefinite period of time) whose employment is incidental to his educational program with the University; (b) any student or other individual employed or performing services as part of a post-doctoral program with the University; (c) any person whose terms and conditions of employment are subject to a collective bargaining agreement unless the collective bargaining agreement provides for the eligibility of such person to participate in the RAP; (d) any employee employed by a division or an affiliate covered by the Retirement Plan of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Medical Center and the Pennsylvania Hospital; (e) any leased employee; (f) any employee eligible to be covered under the University’s Tax-Deferred Retirement Plan (consisting of both the University of Pennsylvania Basic Contribution Plan and the University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan), unless such employee was participating in the RAP on the date he became eligible to participate in such other University plans and elected to continue participating in the RAP; (g) any employee who is a police officer covered under the University of Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police, Pennsylvania Lodge 113, Defined Benefit Retirement Plan; (h) any member of the faculty of the University; and (i) any independent contractor or any other person who is not classified by the University as a common law employee for purposes of withholding federal employment taxes. 

The Internal Revenue Service has previously issued a determination letter with respect to the qualification of the RAP.

Rights of Interested Parties

You have the right to submit to EP Determinations, at the above address, either individually or jointly with other interested parties, your comments as to whether the RAP meets the qualification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code.

You may instead, individually or jointly with other interested parties, request the Department of Labor to submit, on your behalf, comments to EP Determinations regarding qualification of the RAP.  If the Department declines to comment on all or some of the matters you raise, you may, individually, or jointly if your request was made to the Department jointly, submit your comments on these matters directly to EP Determinations. 

Requests for Comments by the Department of Labor

The Department of Labor may not comment on behalf of interested parties unless requested to do so by the lesser of ten employees or ten percent of the employees who qualify as interested parties. The number of persons needed for the Department to comment with respect to the RAP is ten.  If you request the Department to comment, your request must be in writing and must specify the matters upon which comments are requested, and must also include:

(1) the Name of the Plan, the Plan Number, the Name and Address of the Applicant, and the Applicant’s Employer Identification Number, as listed above on this Notice; and

(2) the number of persons needed for the Department to comment.

A request to the Department to comment should be addressed as follows:

Deputy Assistant Secretary
Employee Benefits Security Administration
ATTN:  3001 Comment Request
U.S. Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C.  20210

Comments to the Internal Revenue Service

Comments submitted by you to EP Determinations must be in writing and received by it by March 17, 2011.  However, if there are matters that you request the Department of Labor to comment upon on your behalf, and the Department declines, you may submit comments on these matters to EP Determinations to be received by it within 15 days from the time the Department notifies you that it will not comment on a particular matter, or by March 17, 2011, whichever is later, but not after April 1, 2011. A request to the Department to comment on your behalf must be received by it by February 15, 2011, if you wish to preserve your right to comment on a matter upon which the Department declines to comment, or by February 25, 2011 if you wish to waive that right.

Additional information

Detailed instructions regarding the requirements for notification of interested parties may be found in sections 17 and 18 of Revenue Procedure 2010-6. Additional information concerning this application (including, where applicable, an updated copy of the RAP and related trust; the application for determination; any additional documents dealing with the application that have been submitted to the Service; and copies of section 17 of Revenue Procedure 2010-6) are available at the office of the Plan Administrator during normal business hours for inspection and copying.  (There is a nominal charge for copying and/or mailing.)

Related: University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan: Notice to Interested Parties

Almanac - January 18, 2011, Volume 57, No. 18