June 30,1998
Note 11
DEFERRED COMPENSATION PLAN
The State of Connecticut offers its employees a deferred compensation plan created in accordance with Internal Revenue Code Section 457. The plan, available to all State employees in a permanent position, including elected and appointed officials and members of the General assembly, permits them to defer a portion of their salary until future years. The deferred compensation is not available to employees until retirement, termination of employment, disability, unforeseeable emergency or death.
All amounts of compensation deferred under the plan, all property and rights purchased with those amounts and all income attributable to those amounts, property or rights are (until paid or made available to the employee or other beneficiary) solely the property and rights of the State (without being restricted to the provisions of benefits under the plan), subject only to the claims of the State's general creditors. Participants' rights under the plan are equal to those of general creditors of the State in an amount equal to the fair market value of the deferred account for each participant. At this time, the State believes that it is unlikely that it will use the assets of the plan to satisfy the claims of general creditors in the future.
Based on Article V of the State of Connecticut Deferred Compensation Plan, the State has no liability for losses under any employee selected plan. The State does have the duty of due care that would be of an ordinary prudent investor.
In 1996 Congress changed the provisions of IRC Section 457 to require that new plans will not be considered eligible deferred compensation plans unless all assets and income of the plans are held in trust for the benefit of the participants and their beneficiaries. For plans in existence at the time the law was changed, a trust will need to be established by January 1, 1999.
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