The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) provides welcome relief to private sector single employer sponsors of defined benefit pension plans (Pension Plan(s)). Effective for plan years beginning on and after January 1, 2024, SECURE 2.0 caps the variable rate premium paid by Pension Plan sponsors to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) at
PBGC
More Bad News For Employers In The PBGC Final Rule
The recently published final regulation implementing last year’s massive multiemployer pension plan bailout contains a very thin silver lining, but overall, more bad news for already overburdened employers.
Last year, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) issued its interim final rule on the process for eligible troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans (MEPPs) to apply for and…
PBGC Issues Interim Rule On Multiemployer Pension Bailout; Impact On Employers Unclear
On July 9, 2021, the PBGC issued its interim final rule (the “Rule”) on the process for eligible troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans (“MEPPs”) to apply for and obtain Special Financial Assistance (“SFA”) under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”). The Rule was posted on PBGC’s website and became effective as guidance on July…
Butch Lewis Brings No Good News for Contributing Employers
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…
Will American Rescue Plan Act Multiemployer Pension Provisions Bring Relief to Employers?
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
Is Relief for the Plight of Multiemployer Pension Plans in the Works?
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…
Manufacturers and Multiemployer Pensions — The Importance of Monitoring Withdrawal Liability
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…
Will New Stimulus Bill Include Multiemployer Pension Reform?
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…
IRS Extends the Form 5500 Due Dates for Some Employee Benefit Plans
The Internal Revenue Service has broadened the filing and payment relief provided under prior guidance. IRS Notice 2020-23 postpones, among other relief, the due date for employee benefit plans required to make the Form 5500 series filings due on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020. Plans with original due dates or…
2nd Circuit Pension Liability Ruling Is A Big Win For Employers
As published by Law360 (January 13, 2020, 5:43 PM EST) —
Following oral arguments that were held in February 2018, in a long-anticipated decision in the National Retirement Fund v. Metz Culinary Management Inc., the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that a multiemployer pension fund’s use of a lower interest rate…