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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

A new report published by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) throws into sharp detail the challenges faced by the U.S. multiemployer pension system. Speaking about the report, Lisa Schilling, retirement research actuary for the SOA, quickly pointed out that there are many multiemployer pensions that are healthy and more or less entirely financially fit. In fact, there are more than 1,200 multiemployer pension plans in the United States today, covering about 10 million participants, including roughly 4 million retirees. However, [...]