UPS high among U.S. firms with big retirement matches

United Parcel Service (UPS) vehicles depart from a UPS facility in Los Angeles, California July 22, 2008.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Corporate retirement plan matches are a prime target in tough times, but some U.S. companies have kept contributions substantial and consistent, with Ernst & Young ERNY.UL and United Parcel Service (UPS.N), among the top 10 U.S. companies ranked for retirement contributions by BrightScope.

BrightScope tracks more than 4,500 retirement plans in the United States. It ranked the companies with the biggest defined contribution plan matches, which exclude pension plans, for Reuters.

Nine of the 10 most generous plans provide profit sharing contributions, including Ernst & Young and United Parcel Service.

"While in these cases the profit sharing contributions are extremely generous, it is important to remember that discretionary profit sharing contributions can be very good when the company is doing well, and then disappear if the company has a bad year," said Eddie Alfred, vice president of research and data at BrightScope.

Since the financial crisis began two years ago, 18 percent of U.S. companies have trimmed or suspended matching contributions to their 401(k) plans, according to a Towers Watson survey of 334 companies with 1,000 or more employees.

Among those employers, less than half (49 percent) have yet to restore the match, although most said in the survey that they were considering reinstating all or part of it within the next 12 months. Of companies that have already reinstated the match, most have restored it to the pre-financial crisis level.

A study released in June by asset manager BlackRock Inc (BLK.N) and consultancy Boston Research Group found that a company "match rate" has the single biggest influence on how much employees contribute to their retirement plan. But, the average company matches only half of the first 6 percent of an employee's 401(k) contributions.

Here is a list of companies with the more generous defined contribution plans, each of which contains $100 million or more in assets:

> Oregon Anesthesiology Group in Portland, Oregon (20 percent of compensation, up to IRS limits) > O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles (profit sharing percentage not disclosed) > Anesthesia Service Medical Group in San Diego, California (match is 1,000 percent of deferrals, up to IRS limits) > Bryan Cave LLP in St. Louis, Missouri (profit sharing is lesser of $45,000 or 100 percent of compensation for partners) > Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York (profit sharing is 8 percent for associate attorneys; 11 percent for special counsel with less than seven years of service; 13.5 percent for special counsel with more than seven years of service; and $45,000 for partners and managing directors) > Ernst & Young U.S. LLP in Secaucus, New Jersey (percentage of profit sharing for partners is not disclosed) > City of Hope Medical Group in Monrovia, California (profit sharing is 20 percent of compensation, up to IRS limits) > North American Partners in Anesthesia in Melville, New York (profit sharing for partners is the lesser of 25 percent of compensation or $49,000; physicians and administrative employees is the lesser of 15 percent of compensation or $30,000) > Board of Trustees I.U.O.E Local 14-14B Annuity Fund in Flushing, New York (profit sharing is $9.25 per hour worked) > United Parcel Service Co in Louisville, Kentucky (profit sharing is 12 percent of eligible compensation, up to IRS limits for members of the Independent Pilots Association, which is the collective bargaining unit for UPS pilots)

The rankings of other companies can be found at <www.brightscope.com>.

(Reporting by Lauren Young)