Recent developments in employee benefits law

The first part of this article highlights important judicial developments involving employee benefits and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA"), as amended, during the latter part of 2003 and the first part of 2004, including the most significant U.S. Supreme Court and federal circuit court decisions. The second part covers recent legislative and regulatory developments in employee benefits law. This article is not meant to be exhaustive, but discusses the more important developments during 2003-2004, with particular focus on issues of concern to the insurance industry.     

Reviews

Crisis Response: Humanitarian Band‐Aids in Sudan and Somalia by John Prendergast. London: Pluto Press, 1997. 180pp.

In the Shadow of Marriage: Gender and Justice in an African Community edited by Anne M.O. Griffiths. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1997. ix plus 310pp including notes, references and index.

From Reserve to Region: Apartheid and Social Change in the Keiskammahoek District of (former) Ciskei, 1950–1990 edited by Chris de Wet and Michael Whisson. Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 1997. xiv plus 343pp. including tables, figures, appendices, maps. Paperback.

Japan and Africa: Big Business and Diplomacy by Jun Morikawa. First published (in Southern Africa) by Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg, 1997. xii plus 298 pp. including contents, figures, a list of Japanese terms and abbreviations, photographs, appendices, select bibliographies and an index. Paperback.

Conflict and its Resolution in Contemporary Africa edited by Harry G. West. University Press of America, Lanham, 1997. xv plus 140pp.

A Different Kind of War Story by Carolyn Nordstrom. The University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1997. xviii plus 254pp. including illustrations, notes, bibliography and index. Paperback.     

Risking Housing Need

It is commonly suggested that social housing is allocated on the basis of 'need'. The authors, however, suggest that the concept of risk provides a much better explanation of the complex interplay of interests involved in the allocation process. In particular, risk explains developing allocation methods in low-demand areas. The thesis is exemplified by drawing upon data derived from the authors' original research on the rehousing of sex offenders.     

Why Are the Poor More Vulnerable to Bribery in Africa? The Institutional Effects of Services

Whereas most studies find the poor in Africa to be more vulnerable to bribery because of their lower socio-economic status, this paper proposes institutional differences as an alternative explanation. Because poor people are unable to afford privately provided services, they must use public services. In relying on the state more often, the poor become more vulnerable to bribery. Analyses of Afrobarometer data show that the poor are not more likely to pay bribes for state monopolised services. The poor’s disproportionate vulnerability to bribery for choice services is a function of their greater likelihood to have contact with the state.     

Being Underway,Not in Delay,on Climate Change-Related Disclosure

Confusion among companies over what is adequate in environmental disclosure, in general, sets an unfortunate stage for contemplating the newer matter of climate change-related disclosure. Companies waiting for new legislative and regulatory outcomes before contending with climate change disclosure, however, are in exposed and inadvisable delay on the matter. Existing regulations and standards pertain and instruct, if indirectly, on what is to be disclosed and accrued, and when. Their requirements, the possibility of enforcement actions, and recent evidence of costly consequences to former executives from improper environmental financial disclosure reinforce corporate management's need for disclosure diligence, including on climate change. The future is here.