On November 1st, the IRS released a number of inflation adjustments for 2024, including to certain limits for qualified retirement plans. As expected, this year’s adjustments are more modest than last year’s significant...more
ERISA Section 4010 requires a contributing sponsor of certain single-employer pension plans, as well as the sponsor’s controlled group members, to provide controlled group, financial, and actuarial information to the PBGC...more
As previously discussed, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) issued final regulations in July 2022 for plans that receive special financial assistance (“SFA”) under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021...more
As previously discussed, the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (“SECURE 2.0”) that was signed into law on December 29, 2022 as part of the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act includes a slew of changes for retirement plan sponsors and...more
On October 21st, the IRS released a number of additional inflation adjustments for 2023, including to certain limits for qualified retirement plans. Perhaps most notably, the annual limit for pre-tax and Roth contributions...more
A hotly debated (and litigated) issue for multiemployer pension plans in recent years has been the appropriate interest rate to determine a multiemployer pension plan’s liabilities when calculating the plan’s underfunding for...more
On July 8, 2022, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) published its much anticipated final rule on the special financial assistance (“SFA”) available to certain troubled multiemployer plans under the American...more
On January 31, 2022, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the lower court’s finding that surcharges imposed by the Pension Protection Act (“PPA”) are excluded from the determination of an employer’s “highest contribution rate” for...more
This episode of The Proskauer Benefits Brief is the second of our three-part series analyzing the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) guidance on the new special financial assistance program for troubled multiemployer...more
This episode of The Proskauer Benefits Brief is the first of our three-part series analyzing the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) guidance on the new special financial assistance program for troubled multiemployer...more
As we previously reported, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”) created a special financial assistance program that is administered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) and intended to extend the...more
7/16/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Employee Benefits ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Interim Final Rules (IFR) ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
New Guidance ,
PBGC ,
Pension Reform ,
Pensions ,
Retirement Plan ,
Withdrawal Liability
Today, the House of Representatives passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (the “ARPA”). The ARPA has already been approved by the Senate and is expected to be quickly signed into law by President Biden....more
In late September, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) published Press Release 20-04 and issued Technical Update 20-2 providing flexibility in the calculation of variable-rate premiums for plan sponsors who...more
On April 10, 2020, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) announced that deadlines for upcoming premium payments and certain other required filings due from April 1, 2020 through July 14, 2020 will be extended...more
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a withdrawal liability decision of which both multiemployer pension plans and their contributing employers should be aware. Specifically, in National Retirement Fund v. Metz...more
Beginning January 1, 2020, the American Arbitration Association (AAA) will: (i) reduce filing fees charged to parties initiating arbitrations of withdrawal liability disputes; (ii) change how costs of arbitrations are...more
12/13/2019
/ Amended Rules ,
American Arbitration Association ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitrator Selection Disputes ,
Arbitrators ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Filing Fees ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Taft-Hartley Plan Trustees ,
Withdrawal Liability
Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled that two co-investing Sun Capital private equity funds (the Sun Funds) had not created an implied “partnership-in-fact” for purposes of determining whether...more
12/2/2019
/ Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Controlled Groups ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Joint and Several Liability ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Partnership-in-Fact ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Portfolio Companies ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Sun Capital Partners ,
Withdrawal Liability
On February 6, 2019, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ("PBGC") issued a proposed rule that impacts how multiemployer pension plans in endangered or critical status calculate withdrawal liability. The rule is not yet...more
In light of the recent decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Sun Capital, private investment funds, multiemployer pension funds and the...more
10/26/2017
/ Controlled Groups ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Joint and Several Liability ,
Limited Partnership Agreements ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Sun Capital Partners ,
Withdrawal Liability
Editor's Overview -
This month we take a look at the plaintiffs' past successes in fee litigations, and the influx of such lawsuits seeking to impose heightened fiduciary standards for 401(k) plans. Regardless of the...more
8/1/2016
/ 401k ,
Best Interest Contract Exemptions ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Chevron Deference ,
Conflicts of Interest ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Elizabeth Warren ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Fidelity Investments ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Final Rules ,
Forum Selection ,
Health Insurance ,
Internal Revenue Code (IRC) ,
Pensions ,
Popular ,
Retirement Plan ,
Revenue Sharing ,
Section 162(m) ,
Shared Responsibility Rule ,
Stock Float ,
Tax Deductions ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Vanguard
District Court finds affiliated funds acted in de facto partnership which controlled portfolio company; Decision may be significant in making private equity acquisition structuring choices.
As we previously reported, in...more
4/6/2016
/ Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Controlled Groups ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Investment Portfolios ,
Joint and Several Liability ,
Joint Venture ,
Limited Partnership Agreements ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Private Equity Funds ,
Sun Capital Partners ,
Withdrawal Liability
On July 6, 2015, President Obama signed the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015. Among other things, the Trade Act retroactively reinstated the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC), which had previously expired on January...more
7/19/2015
/ Affordable Care Act ,
COBRA ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Employer Group Health Plans ,
Health Insurance ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Qualified Health Plans ,
Tax Credits ,
Trade Adjustment Assistance ,
Trade Preferences Extension Act (TPEA)
On December 16, 2014, President Obama signed into law the $1.1 trillion Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 (Appropriations Act), which includes some significant changes to the rules governing...more
1/28/2015
/ Appropriations Bill ,
CBAs ,
Collective Bargaining ,
Defined Benefit Plans ,
Defined Contribution Plans ,
Employee Benefits ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
New Legislation ,
PBGC ,
Pensions ,
Unions
The PBGC has recently initiated efforts to enhance retirement security for Americans by promoting lifetime income options (i.e., annuitized benefits). As part of these efforts, as well as those of the IRS and U.S. Department...more
Editor's Overview -
This month's newsletter focuses on repayment of pension plan overpayments. Our issue discusses pension plan overpayments to participants, a plan administrator's duties to seek repayment, corrections...more