Photo of David M. Pixley

David M. Pixley is a principal in the Cleveland, Ohio office of Jackson Lewis P.C. His practice focuses on employee benefits and ERISA litigation.

David’s practice includes counseling clients on all aspects of employee benefits and ERISA litigation involving single employer and multiemployer benefit plans.

In addition to his extensive courtroom experience, David routinely advises and counsels clients with regard to employee benefit plan compliance, administration, participant disclosures, reporting and drafting requirements under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, ACA, HIPAA and COBRA. David assists clients in correcting errors under the IRS’ Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System and the DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program. He also advises employers and investors on multiemployer benefit plan issues that arise during a corporate restructuring and in the context of M&A transactions.

Prior to joining Jackson Lewis, David served as outside Fund Counsel to multiemployer pension and welfare plans and has extensive experience with employer withdrawal liability, payroll audits, and delinquent contribution matters. He routinely speaks and writes about the issues facing employers contributing to and exiting multiemployer plans.

At the Ohio State University, he was a member of the Rugby Football Club. After law school, prior to beginning his career as an attorney, David was deployed as a member of the Ohio Army National Guard and awarded the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

Welcome to Part 10 (of 10) of our series about the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) (our other articles are on our JL Employee Benefits Blog Page).  Among the many changes within SECURE 2.0, the following allow for increased flexibility for participants to access certain retirement plan accounts when faced with qualifying

A New York federal court recently held that a service provider for employer-sponsored retirement plans was not liable as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) when it used participant information to encourage certain plan participants to roll over assets into its more expensive managed account program.  Carfora v. Teachers Ins. Annuity

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

Ohio’s Surprise Billing Law, R.C. § 3902.51, became effective January 12, 2022, but its impact on health plans is still evolving.  The law strives to prevent patients from receiving and paying surprise medical bills, specifically those stemming from unanticipated out-of-network care.  While the Ohio Surprise Billing Law intends to shield insureds from surprise medical

It’s no secret that the statutory deck under ERISA is stacked heavily in favor of multiemployer pension plans (MEPPs) and against employers contributing to (or withdrawing from) Taft-Hartley trust funds. For example, an employer who receives a demand to pay its alleged allocable share of a multiemployer pension plan’s unfunded vested benefits (Withdrawal Liability) will

The use of the “Segal Blend” to calculate a company’s withdrawal liability when it withdrew from a multiemployer pension plan violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), because it was not the actuary’s best estimate, the federal appeals court in Cincinnati has held in

An employer’s permanent cessation of contributions to a multiemployer pension plan can trigger withdrawal liability. This liability may reach affiliated trades or businesses with sufficient common ownership to be under “common control” with the employer. The affiliates would be jointly and severally liable for withdrawal liability incurred and unpaid by the withdrawing affiliate.

Courts often

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

The Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA), enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), contained unprecedented financial relief for the most troubled multiemployer pension plans (MEPPs). The MEPPs community is eagerly awaiting guidance from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on the requirements for MEPPs to apply for

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