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c. Mr. Daskais
Mr. Daskais, respondent’s expert, is an expert in actuarial
science. He is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries and was an
enrolled actuary under ERISA from 1976 to 1995.
Mr. Daskais opined that “actuarially determined on a level
basis” means that the systematic year-to-year increments to the
reserve are the same (or “level” in some sense) each year.
Examples of level increments that are appropriate for computing a
reserve for postretirement medical benefits include (1) a uniform
(or level) dollar amount each year or (2) a uniform (or level)
dollar amount per active employee each year, so that the total
dollar amount increases or decreases as the number of active
employees increases or decreases.18
Mr. Daskais opined that in actuarial parlance a “reserve
funded over the working lives of covered employees” is a “one-
sentence description of the aggregate cost method.” It means a
reserve, determined on the basis of an actuarial cost method and
actuarial assumptions, that will increase from year to year and
will be exactly sufficient to provide the trust fund’s benefits at
the end of the working lives of the covered employees. Mr. Daskais
18 A third example is a uniform (or level) percent of the
total payroll of active employees each year, so that the total
dollar amount increases or decreases as the total payroll of active
employees increases or decreases. The experts agree that
allocating by percentages is inappropriate for postretirement
medical benefits because postretirement benefits usually are not
pay related.
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