Multiemployer Plans – CORPaTH

6 10, 2021

Appellate Court Rejects Use of Segal Blend in Calculating Withdrawal Liability

CORPaTH2021-10-06T11:41:02-07:00October 6th, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Ohio Operating Engineers Pension Fund, segal blend, Sofco Erectors Inc.|

By Rebecca Moore Source: PlanSponsor The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has weighed in on one case in which an employer that withdrew from a multiemployer pension plan challenged the use of the so-called “Segal Blend” when calculating the amount of withdrawal liability the member employer owed the plan. In the case Sofco Erectors Inc. v. Trustees of the Ohio Operating Engineers Pension Fund, the appellate court noted that the interest-rate assumption is critical in withdrawal-liability calculations. A [...]

18 08, 2021

Milliman: Multiemployer pension funding rises to 92%

CORPaTH2021-08-18T16:29:06-07:00August 18th, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: DB Plans, milliman|

By Rob Kozlowski Source: Pensions & Investments The estimated aggregate funding ratio of multiemployer defined benefit plans in the U.S. reached 92% as of June 30, up from 88% at the end of 2020, according to a study from Milliman. The first six months of the year continued a strong market recovery that had already brought funding levels to their highest ratio since Dec. 31, 2007, when the level was 85%. The estimated investment return for Milliman's simplified portfolio [...]

22 07, 2021

CAAT Pension Plan brings on 55 more employers in first half of year

CORPaTH2021-07-22T14:50:13-07:00July 22nd, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: caat, canada, Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan|

By Rob Kozlowski Source: Pensions & Investments Pension plan participants at 55 Canadian employers joined the C$15.8 billion ($12.7 billion) Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan, Toronto, in the first half of 2021. With those moves, more than 3,300 new participants joined CAAT's DBplus plan, spokeswoman Lindsay Grillet said in an email. The additions bring the total to 125 employers in 10 industries that have joined the CAAT Pension Plan. The plan, which was originally established for [...]

9 07, 2021

PBGC and IRS Issue Guidance on Special Financial Assistance for Financially Troubled Multiemployer DB Pension Plans; Comments Requested

CORPaTH2021-07-09T15:17:41-07:00July 9th, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: DB Plans, irs, PBGC, SFA|

Source: IFEBP The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued guidance on Special Financial Assistance (SFA) for financially troubled multiemployer defined benefit (DB) pension plans. PBGC issued an interim final rule implementing a new SFA Program. The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) — passed by Congress and signed by President Biden on March 11, 2021 — contains provisions to provide an estimated $94 billion in assistance to eligible plans that are severely underfunded. Additionally, it assists [...]

19 05, 2021

Multiemployer plans weather 2020 with strong returns

CORPaTH2021-05-19T14:45:06-07:00May 19th, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|

By Hazel Bradford Source: Pensions & Investments Multiemployer pension plans managed to ride out the economic turbulence of 2020, thanks largely to investment returns, according to a Segal zone status survey released Wednesday. Segal surveyed nearly 200 calendar-year plans that had to certify their zone status by April 30. Those plans, with a collective $125 billion in assets, represent approximately 25% of all multiemployer plan participants. Read the full article

11 03, 2021

Teamsters celebrate passage of COVID-19 stimulus bill delivering pension relief

CORPaTH2021-03-11T11:47:27-08:00March 11th, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: American Rescue Plan, COVID-19|

The Teamsters are euphoric about the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) clearing its final legislative hurdle in the House today, ensuring more than 1 million U.S. workers and retirees in struggling multiemployer pension plans will receive the nest eggs they were promised while other Americans hit hard by the global pandemic get the help they need. President Biden is expected to sign the bill into law shortly. And when he does, it will mark the culmination of a [...]

11 03, 2021

Multiemployer Pension Relief Expected by March 14

CORPaTH2021-03-11T11:45:02-08:00March 11th, 2021|Categories: Economy, Multiemployer Plans|Tags: butch lewis act, EPPRA|

The US Senate on March 6 passed the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 (EPPRA) as part of the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (H.R. 1319), the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package. The bill was passed under the reconciliation process, requiring a simple majority vote. Because the Senate made some last-minute changes to EPPRA (which was initially proposed in the House of Representatives), the bill now moves back to the House, where it will [...]

2 03, 2021

AFL-CIO Retirement Security Working Group Applauds House Passage of Multiemployer Pension Relief

CORPaTH2021-03-02T15:05:09-08:00March 2nd, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: American Rescue Plan|

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler joined the co-chairs of the AFL-CIO Retirement Security Working Group, UFCW International President Marc Perrone and SMART General President Joseph Sellers, in the following statement on the inclusion of multiemployer pension relief in the American Rescue Plan, which passed the House today: After a lifetime of hard work, working people deserve to retire with dignity. The labor movement is proud of our negotiated multiemployer pension plans, which have provided retirement [...]

26 02, 2021

Pensions Need Help From Congress

CORPaTH2021-02-26T08:18:40-08:00February 26th, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: congress, pension funding|

The House plans to vote on a COVID reconciliation bill this week. It is vital that Members of Congress support the pension provisions it contains. Before the pandemic, a small but important group of multiemployer pension plans was heading toward insolvency. These insolvencies will cause the federal government’s Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to become insolvent. These insolvencies will cause 1.3 million Americans to lose about 98 percent of their pension income and be forced onto the federal government’s [...]

9 02, 2021

Multiemployer Plan Bailout Caps Benefit Plan Limits

CORPaTH2021-02-09T14:41:42-08:00February 9th, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act|

Legislation before the House Ways & Means Committee plans to help pay for a multiemployer plan bailout by utilizing a budget “gimmick” that would freeze retirement plan contribution limits—though not for collectively bargained plans. More specifically, the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021, included as subtitle H of a nine-part package that the committee plans to mark up this week, would impose a cost-of-living freeze on: the Code Section 415(c) annual contribution limit for defined contribution [...]

9 02, 2021

House panel to weigh multiemployer pension reform bill

CORPaTH2021-02-09T14:33:29-08:00February 9th, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: Pension Reform|

Legislation to help struggling multiemployer pension funds is to be considered this week by a key House panel as part of a COVID-19 relief measure. The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to start marking up a package of pandemic relief measures Wednesday, including one aimed at stabilizing pensions for more than 1 million participants in multiemployer plans approaching insolvency. The pension section of the proposed Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 is cited as the "Butch [...]

21 01, 2021

Multiemployer pension plans could soon see relief

CORPaTH2021-01-21T13:55:48-08:00January 21st, 2021|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: PBGC|

Legislation to help struggling multiemployer pension funds is to be introduced Thursday in the House and could be headed for passage if bundled with a COVID-19 relief measure now before Congress. The proposal also calls for some funding relief for single employer plans through extended amortization periods and pension interest rate smoothing changes. The proposed Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act of 2021 is based on similar multiemployer pension reform legislation proposed in the last session of Congress as part [...]

16 12, 2020

Court Rules Pensions Can’t Exist in a State of Limbo

CORPaTH2020-12-16T09:03:15-08:00December 16th, 2020|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: PBGC|

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in a “most unusual case” that a company that went bankrupt and dissolved in the 1990s was still liable for its pension’s obligations 20 years later. The case centers on Chicago area-based Liberty Lighting Co. Inc, a unionized electrical supply manufacturing company and plan sponsor and administrator of the Liberty Lighting Co. Inc. Pension Plan for IBEW Employees. According to court documents, Liberty entered bankruptcy and surrendered its assets to [...]

16 12, 2020

Multiemployer pension reform not happening this year

CORPaTH2020-12-16T09:01:26-08:00December 16th, 2020|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: PBGC|

Multiemployer pension reform will not happen this year, Senate Republicans involved in negotiations said. In a joint statement, Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said late Monday that time ran out for having it included in end-of-year legislation before the 116th Congress adjourns. "While each side has agreed to make significant changes, we have yet to find an agreement that satisfies our respective principles and objectives [...]

27 04, 2020

NCCMP seeks congressional aid for pensions in ‘CARES 2’

CORPaTH2020-04-27T10:25:51-07:00April 27th, 2020|Categories: Multiemployer Plans|Tags: congress, COVID-19, multi employer plans, nccmp|

Below is an April 24, 2020 letter written by NCCMP Executive Director Michael D. Scott. Dear Multiemployer Community, Today, the President signed H.R. 266 which provided additional authority for the Paycheck Protection Program and support for health care providers. This is commonly referred to as the COVID 3.5 stimulus package. In less than eight weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has put more than 26.4 million Americans out of work and driven Congress and the Federal Reserve to structure more than [...]