In the clamor that surrounded the current administration’s adoption of the American Rescue Act of 2021 (ARPA), quietly tucked in as Subtitle H is the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (Butch Lewis). Butch Lewis has been unsuccessfully bouncing around Congress since 2019. While Butch Lewis is long on rhetoric, at this … Continue Reading
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 includes a modified version of the Butch Lewis Act, referred to as the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA), which restores to financial health more than 100 failing multiemployer pension plans. However, the measure falls well short of any meaningful long-term funding reform. More… Continue Reading
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) is the latest federal COVID-19 relief bill, which the President signed into law on Thursday, March 11, 2021. ARPA includes new COBRA continuation coverage election, notice, and subsidy requirements; pension plan funding relief; and some cost-saving benefit opportunities employees may be able to leverage. Some of these … Continue Reading
I – Overview of the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act The much-heralded Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (the “Butch Lewis Act of 2021”) is closer to becoming a reality as part of the COVID-19 relief bill, which is set for a vote in the House of Representatives on February … Continue Reading
Approximately a quarter of the workforce covered by a traditional pension plan is in a multiemployer plan, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many manufacturers that participate in such plans are unaware their largest contingent liability may stem from their allocable share of unfunded vested benefits or withdrawal liability. More info…… Continue Reading
What could be in the next stimulus bill in response to the COVID-19 pandemic? Congress reportedly is working on a bill (dubbed “Stimulus 3.5”) that includes additional funding for the Paycheck Protection Program created by the CARES Act. Will the new stimulus bill address long-awaited reforms to the multiemployer pension plan system? The imminent collapse … Continue Reading
Since its passage late in 1980, the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) has proven to be a hindrance to the profitable operations of employers that contribute to multiemployer pension funds by imposing a surprise, and often expensive, obligation (the “withdrawal liability”) on employers across many industries. However, the construction industry is one of a … Continue Reading
For years, steep arbitration fees have made many employers think twice about contesting a questionable withdrawal liability determination. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) approval of a lower fee schedule may ease that hurdle. ERISA, as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendment Act of 1980 (MPPAA), requires all disputes between an employer and a … Continue Reading
In a white paper and technical explanations, Republican Senators Charles E. Grassley (Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance) and Lamar Alexander (Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) have proposed reforms to the multiemployer pension plan system. If implemented, the proposed reforms (not yet introduced as a bill) would represent … Continue Reading
A withdrawing employer must make withdrawal liability installment payments during the pendency of an arbitration proceeding contesting the existence of withdrawal liability, a federal court has affirmed, rejecting the employer’s attempt to recognize an equitable exception to the general “pay now, dispute later” requirement. Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Pension Trust v. PSF Industries, No. 18-2467-JWL (D. Kan. Nov. … Continue Reading
Contributing employers to multiemployer pension plans (“MEPPs”) are commonly surprised that their obligations to such a plan can extend well beyond the contributions required under a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”) negotiated with a union. The most significant extra-contractual obligation is withdrawal liability, a statutory exit fee imposed on employers that leave a plan that has … Continue Reading
Congress enacted the withdrawal liability provisions of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) with the ultimate goal of protecting participants and beneficiaries entitled to benefits from multiemployer pension plans. Congress observed that such plans are financially burdened whenever an employer withdraws and permanently ceases to pay contributions and decided that the burden should be … Continue Reading
This is another blog on our monitoring the status of defined benefit multi-employer pension funds. Since this author last wrote to you, it has been revealed that the Central States Pension Fund is scheduled to become insolvent sometime in 2025. Worse yet, it has been announced that the multi-employer fund of the Pension Benefit … Continue Reading
As our earlier article reported, Judge Robert W. Sweet of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York had recently held that a multiemployer pension fund’s use of the “Segal Blend” to calculate a withdrawn employer’s withdrawal liability violated the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), as amended by … Continue Reading
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (“MPPAA”), an employer that has assumed an obligation to contribute to collectively-bargained and jointly-administered defined benefit pension plans ( “multiemployer plans”) is liable for its allocable share of any underfunding upon the permanent cessation of that obligation. This … Continue Reading
This is the most recent article in our series which focuses on the impact on employers of the downward spiral and death knell of the multi-employer defined benefit plan. The Eleventh Circuit has dealt another blow to employers who contribute to multi-employer defined benefit funds. In Westrock RKT Company v. Pace Industry Union-Management Pension Fund … Continue Reading
This is another article in our series which has focused on the deterioration and downward spiral of the multi-employer defined benefit pension fund. Death Notice Decedent: The New York Teamsters Road Carriers Local 707 Pension Fund Date of Death: March 2017 Cause of Death: The failure of successive administrations and Congresses to address the serious underfunding … Continue Reading
This is another article in our series addressing the continued deterioration and downward spiral of multi-employer defined benefit pension funds and the resulting impact upon participants, unions and most importantly on employers. As the American public focuses on January 20, 2017 as the beginning of the Trump administration, the day may also have historical significance … Continue Reading
It has been reported that infamous bank robber, Slick Willie Sutton, once said, “I rob banks because that’s where the money is.” Data thieves, understandably, have a similar strategy – go where the data is. The retail industry knows this as it has been a popular target for payment card data. The healthcare and certain … Continue Reading
In the aftermath of the rejection of the Central States Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Plan (“Central States”) application to reduce core benefits by Treasury Special Master Kenneth Feinberg, it is critical that contributing employers to multi-employer pension funds recognize the harsh reality that help to those funds will not be forthcoming from the government in … Continue Reading
In a case of first impression, the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that work performed by a non-union company acquired after a construction industry employer ceased contributing to a multiemployer pension plan (MEP) triggered withdrawal liability. The case, Ceco Concrete Construction, LLC v. Centennial State Carpenters Pension Trust, Nos. … Continue Reading
For the past several months, we have been reporting on the application filed by the Central States Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund (“Central States”) to the Department of Treasury to reduce “core” benefits to participants. This extraordinary remedy is permitted by the Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (“Kline-Miller Act”). Public hearings conducted … Continue Reading
We have been monitoring and reporting on several disquieting events which have occurred in the multi-employer pension plan world within the past few months. In September 2015, the Central States Southeast and Southwest Area Pension Fund availed itself of the relief permitted under the Kline-Miller Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (“Kline-Miller Act”) by applying … Continue Reading
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (“UFCW”) National Pension Fund (which, according to its website has over 500 contributing employers and over 100,000 active participants) has adopted a new rule effective as of the plan year ending on June 30, 2014 which increases the risk that a participating employer will unknowingly create a … Continue Reading
