Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Update

In the past few days, the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"), U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ("PBGC") have yet again extended certain deadlines for employee benefit plans that Hurricane Katrina most severely impacted. This time, the extensions are until August 28, 2006. This alert describes the employee benefit plan-related extensions, and supplements our February 22, 2006 Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Update titled "Additional Relief for Hurricane Victims."

Form 5500 Filing Deadline Extended

DOL has extended Form 5500 filing deadlines for certain employee benefit plans affected by Hurricane Katrina. A plan is considered affected by Hurricane Katrina if the sponsoring employer or plan administrator is located in the most-seriously impacted hurricane disaster area or if the sponsoring employer or plan administrator is unable to obtain the necessary information from banks, insurance companies or service providers whose operations were located in the most-seriously impacted hurricane disaster area. The extension until August 28, 2006 applies to Form 5500 series filings required to be filed after August 23, 2005.

The DOL extension applies to the following counties and parishes that the IRS identified as being the most-seriously impacted by Hurricane Katrina:

Alabama Counties: Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Mobile, Pickens, Sumter, Tuscaloosa and Washington.

Louisiana Parishes: Acadia, Ascension, Assumption , Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Jefferson, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche , Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John, St. Mary, St. Martin, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne , Vermilion, Washington, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana.

Mississippi Counties: Adams, Amite, Attala, Claiborne, Choctaw, Clarke, Copiah, Covington, Franklin , Forrest, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Walthall, Warren, Wayne, Wilkinson, Winston and Yazo.

Form 5500 filers using this extension should check Form 5500, Part I, box D and attach a statement labeled "Form 5500, Box D — Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Extension." Similarly, Form 5500 EZ filers should check Form 5500 EZ, Part I, box B, and attach a statement labeled "Form 5500 EZ, box B — Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Extension."

PBGC Relief Extended

PBGC has extend disaster relief until August 28, 2006 for the Louisiana parishes of Cameron, Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles and St. Tammany, and for the Mississippi counties of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson. The extended deadline does not apply to any other disaster areas, including those Hurricanes Rita and Wilma impacted. As discussed more fully in our February 22, 2006 Update, the PBGC relief includes extended deadlines for certain required filings and notices, including premium payment filings, plan termination filings, certain participant notices, reportable events notices and certain employer reporting for underfunded defined benefit pension plans.

This extended relief is available to any person who (1) is responsible for meeting a PBGC deadline (e.g., a plan administrator or contributing employer) and (2) is located in one of the counties or parishes identified above or cannot reasonably obtain information or other assistance needed to meet the deadline from a bank, service provider or other person whose operations are located in one of the counties or parishes identified above.

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