Kwasha Lipton
Encyclopedia
Human resource consulting
Human resource consulting is an $18.4 billion industry that has emerged from management consulting, asclients' needs have become more complex and specialized, widening the gap between HR needs and work force capabilities, and thus accentuating the ability of HR management consulting firms to fill...
firm located in Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee, New Jersey
Fort Lee is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 35,345. Located atop the Hudson Palisades, the borough is the western terminus of the George Washington Bridge...
. It was founded in 1944 by H. Charles "Chick" Kwasha and Maurice Lipton.
Kwasha Lipton is best known for creating a special type of defined benefit pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
plan called a cash balance plan
Cash balance plan
A cash balance plan is a defined benefit retirement plan that maintains hypothetical individual employee accounts like a defined contribution plan...
, which it designed for the employees of Bank of America
Bank of America
Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
in 1985. Kwasha Lipton implemented dozens of cash balance plans for its other clients, and these plans were ultimately adopted by various companies throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Some employees allege that the plans discriminate against older workers in violation of federal age discrimination law
Age Discrimination in Employment Act
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, Pub. L. No. 90-202Code, through , forbids employment discrimination against anyone at least 40 years of age in the United States .-Scope of Protection:...
because of the way in which younger and older employees earn benefits under cash balance plans. Legal challenges have generally been decided in favor of plan sponsors, however, and the plans have been approved by both the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
and the Pension Protection Act of 2006
Pension Protection Act of 2006
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 , 120 Stat. 780, was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on August 17, 2006.-Pension reform:...
.
Kwasha Lipton was acquired in 1996 by Coopers & Lybrand and became the Kwasha Lipton Group of Coopers & Lybrand. Coopers & Lybrand then merged with Price Waterhouse on July 1, 1998 to form PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers
PricewaterhouseCoopers is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest professional services firm measured by revenues and one of the "Big Four" accountancy firms....
. The Kwasha Lipton Group was combined with PricewaterhouseCoopers' other benefit consulting groups to create Unifi, which shortly thereafter was sold to Mellon Financial
Mellon Financial
Mellon Financial Corporation, was one of the world's largest money management firms. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was in the business of institutional and high-net-worth-individual asset management, including the Dreyfus family of mutual funds; business banking; and shareholder and...
. Mellon combined Unifi with its Buck Consultants
Buck Consultants
Buck Consultants is a global employee benefits and human resource consulting firm.Buck provides its services through integrated practices in communication, compensation, global technology and delivery solutions, health and productivity, retirement, and talent and HR solutions.Buck is an independent...
subsdiary to create Mellon HR Solutions, which was sold to Affiliated Computer Services
Affiliated Computer Services
Affiliated Computer Services Inc. provides information technology services as well as business process outsourcing solutions to businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. ACS is based in Dallas, Texas and the current CEO is Lynn Blodgett. ACS is ranked at number 341 on the 2010...
(ACS) for $405 million in 2005 and renamed Buck Consultants.
Kwasha Lipton owned and occupied a famous building in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It is the first office building visible to the North after passing from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
across the George Washington Bridge
George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting the Washington Heights neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City to Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey. Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 cross the river via the bridge. U.S...
, and it offers spectacular views of the bridge and the Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
skyline
Skyline
A skyline is the overall or partial view of a city's tall buildings and structures consisting of many skyscrapers in front of the sky in the background. It can also be described as the artificial horizon that a city's overall structure creates. Skylines serve as a kind of fingerprint of a city, as...
. The 13-story building has 139000 square feet (12,913.5 m²) of office space, and was sold in July 2005 for $33.7 million. ACS remains the primary occupant leasing the building.