Withdrawal liability is a major concern for many employers with collectively bargained operations. While special rules applicable to the construction industry can limit the circumstances under which liability can be imposed,...more
Withdrawal liability is a statutory obligation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) that any unionized employer may have to confront. Exemptions from liability include one applicable to construction...more
In a decision that bodes poorly for unionized employers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held that a union benefit fund was contractually entitled to conduct an audit whose scope far exceeded the...more
9/12/2022
/ Appellate Courts ,
Audits ,
Breach of Duty ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Fund Managers ,
Labor-Managment Relations Act ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Nurses ,
Self-Reporting ,
Trustees ,
Trusts
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....more
Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA), a company incurs withdrawal liability when it withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan....more
Turning an “American Dream Project” into a nightmare for a New Jersey contractor, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has held that, under ERISA’s multiemployer pension plan provisions (the Multiemployer Pension...more
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...more
As a general rule, an asset purchaser does not assume the seller’s liabilities, including its ERISA obligations. Courts, however, have formulated an exception to this general rule via the doctrine of successor liability. ...more
On July 9, 2021, 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 obtain Special Financial Assistance...more
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...more
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...more
3/16/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Biden Administration ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Insolvency ,
Joe Biden ,
MPRA ,
Multi-Employer Pensions ,
Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act (MPPAA) ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Pensions ,
Relief Measures ,
Withdrawal Liability
A global pandemic has not stopped multiemployer plans from conducting employer payroll audits. To the contrary, an uptick in the number of these payroll audits is noticeable. While employers are under no statutory mandates to...more
The Secretaries of the Departments of Treasury, Commerce, and Labor have been directed to review and report on the pension funding crisis in an October 22, 2020, Presidential Memorandum. The Memorandum brings renewed...more
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...more
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...more
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...more
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...more
The expansion of the multiemployer pension plan successor withdrawal liability doctrine continues for asset purchasers. Establishing a constructive notice standard, the federal appellate court in San Francisco has ruled that...more
In a decision that could have far-reaching implications for multiemployer pension plans and employers, a federal district court has held that the use of the “Segal Blend” to calculate a company’s withdrawal liability when it...more
The district court erred in finding a multiemployer pension plan did not show sufficient continuity of business operations to support imposing successor liability on an asset purchaser, the federal appeals court in Chicago...more
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...more
The precarious financial status of some multiemployer benefit funds has led to criminal indictment against non-contributors. This troubling expansion of potential sanctions for failure to make required contributions to...more
Employers who cease contributing to an ERISA multiemployer pension plan are liable for their allocable share of any underfunding, or “withdrawal liability.”...more
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...more