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New ‘Benefits & Compensation Law Alert’ Newsletter to Help Businesses Implement Highly Effective Benefits/Wages Strategies and Stay Fully Compliant with the Law

Editorial Board to Include Benefits Counsel for Coca-Cola Enterprises

BRENTWOOD, TN, August 30, 1999—Today, professionals handling benefits and compensation face two absolutely unprecedented challenges.

First, laws and regulations impacting these areas have never been so complicated and confusing . . . or so constantly changing. Second—because attracting outstanding workers is so crucial to business success—it has never been so imperative for businesses to identify and offer the "best and brightest" salary and benefits plans.

"For these two critical reasons, we will publish the monthly newsletter Benefits & Compensation Law Alert," said M. Lee Smith, chairman and publisher of M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC of Brentwood, Tennessee. "By receiving this new monthly alert, benefits and compensation professionals will stay on top of—and clearly understand—benefits news, trends, court decisions, and legislation critical to their jobs and workplaces."

Smith said the newsletter would offer proven ideas for navigating the maze of benefits and compensation compliance issues. In addition, he said, it will present the latest thinking on managing retirement plans, health coverage, and related issues.

"This vital information will be communicated in clear, jargon-free English, making the newsletter easy for professionals to read, understand, and apply," Smith said. The first issue of Benefits & Compensation Law Alert will be available in September 1999, with a full-year’s subscription (12 monthly issues) priced at $147.

In addition to explaining benefits and compensation-related legal and HR issues, the newsletter will:

• Spotlight important benefits and compensation trends;
• Provide revealing surveys of company practices;
• Offer valuable reference sources;
• Point professionals toward helpful Internet sites.

"Because all this information is packed into 8 fast-read pages, we believe benefits professionals will find this an invaluable time-saving tool for managing benefits and compensation issues—and for keeping their companies out of hot water," Smith said.

Brenda Thompson, author of the HR Executive Special Report Top 10 Employee Benefit Mistakes, is a senior attorney and editor on the staff of M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC. She has many years experience as a benefits attorney.

About the Editorial Board

Suzanne N. Forlidas, Esq., is corporate benefits counsel for Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. (CCE), headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. David R. Godofsky, J.D., F.S.A., is a Principal and Consulting Actuary with Bryan, Pendleton, Swats & McAllister, LLC, an employee benefits consulting firm in Nashville, Tennessee. John R. Hickman, Esq., is a partner with the law firm of Alston & Bird LLP, where he has been a member of the Employee Benefits Practice Group since 1989. Gary B. Kushner, SPHR, CBP, is the founder and president of Kushner & Company, a benefits consulting firm based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Fritz Richter III, Esq., a member of the law firm of Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, has 15 years of experience in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation.

About the Publisher

M. Lee Smith Publishers LLC is one of America’s premier sources of newsletters and other products and services for human resources professionals, business executives, and attorneys. Founded in 1975, the company today publishes more than 125 newsletters—including 50 state-specific employment-law newsletters—plus guidebooks, videos, software, and electronic-research services.