Category: Multiemployer pensions

PBGC to Provide Special Financial Assistance to Troubled Multiemployer Plans

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.pbgc.gov/news/press/releases/pr21-05

Released rule pdf: https://www.pbgc.gov/sites/default/files/sfa/4262-ifr-final-posted.pdf

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) today announced an interim final rule implementing a new Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program for financially troubled multiemployer defined benefit pension plans.  

“The American Rescue Plan provides funding to severely underfunded pension plans that will ensure that over three million of America’s workers, retirees, and their families receive the pension benefits they earned through many years of hard work,” said PBGC Director Gordon Hartogensis. “These benefits are critical to the economic security of so many retirees and their families.” 

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2) — a historic law 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 plans by providing funds to reinstate previously suspended benefits. ARP also addresses the solvency of PBGC’s Multiemployer Insurance Program, which was projected to become insolvent in 2026.  

The interim final rule sets forth what information a plan is required to file to demonstrate eligibility for SFA and the formula to determine the amount of SFA that PBGC will pay to an eligible plan. ARP authorizes PBGC to prioritize SFA applications of plans in specified groups, and the interim final rule identifies the priority order in which such plans are permitted to apply. The interim final rule also outlines a processing system, which will accommodate the filing and review of many applications in a limited amount of time. In addition, it specifies permissible investments for SFA funds and establishes certain restrictions and conditions on plans that receive SFA. 

The interim final rule is posted on PBGC’s website today, July 9, 2021. The rule is also on public inspection today at FederalRegister.gov and is scheduled for publication in the Federal Register on July 12, 2021. PBGC has included a 30-day public comment period in this rulemaking from the date of publication in the Federal Register. All interested parties may submit their comments, suggestions, and views on the rule’s provisions here: reg.comments@pbgc.gov or https://www.regulations.gov. 

Additional information, including Frequently Asked Questions, is available at PBGC.gov/arp. 

Author(s): PBGC press release

Publication Date: 9 July 2021

Publication Site: PBGC

PBGC Rules on Multiemployer Pension Bailout

Mary Pat Campbell
PBGC Rules on Multiemployer Pension Bailout

Excerpt:

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) today announced an interim final rule implementing a new Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program for financially troubled multiemployer defined benefit pension plans.

Pertinent excerpts coming over the weekend but, for now, it looks like the bailout number moved from $86 billion to $94 billion per the PBGC press release:

Author(s): John Bury

Publication Date: 9 July 2021

Publication Site: burypensions

Update On The Multiemployer Pension Plan Bailout: New Regulations Finally Unveiled

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2021/07/11/update-on-the-multiemployer-pension-plan-bailout-new-regulations-finally-unveiled/?sh=29d66f215bb2

Excerpt:

The PBGC’s decisions here are not what organizations such as the NCCMP would have liked, although, clearly, it is the PBGC’s job to interpret the law, not to try to fix a poorly-written law.

At the same time, no multiemployer pension plan is worse off with this legislation than without it, even if it isn’t as generous as they would have liked. And nothing prohibits those plans from boosting contributions and using additional contributions to fund future accruals — which would mean that pension plans which express their contributions as fixed dollar amounts, rather than a percentage of pay, will be better positioned to provide for existing employees as well as retirees. What’s more, the calculation of future contributions is based on a one-time open group projection, without being revised from year to year, so that, in principle, if more workers join a plan, the plan will be better off. (Of course, if the projection is too optimistic about the number of future workers, the opposite will be true.)

But, of course, this is $86 billion that could have been spent for other needs, or not spent at all. And, however much advocates profess that they still hope for a more comprehensive revision of funding rules for multiemployer pensions, the poorly-conceived nature of this bailout makes it less, rather than more, likely that both sides of the aisle will come together to repair multiemployer pensions and prevent future bailouts.

Author(s): Elizabeth Bauer

Publication Date: 11 July 2021

Publication Site: Forbes

UNITE HERE Launches Website for Beneficiaries of Pension Plans Taken Over by Athene

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210503005554/en/UNITE-HERE-Launches-Website-for-Beneficiaries-of-Pension-Plans-Taken-Over-by-Athene

Excerpt:

As Athene takes control of pension plan assets, it seeks to profit by earning more from investment returns than it is required to pay out to recipients. Athene uses Bermuda-based reinsurance subsidiaries to reinsure most deposits. Apollo manages most of Athene’s assets in exchange for fees. Apollo invests some of Athene’s assets in loans and structured debt products originated or securitized by Apollo affiliates.

Apollo Global Management created Athene in 2009 and has managed its assets since its inception. On March 8, Apollo announced its plan to acquire and merge with Athene.

UNITE HERE’s new website will provide information and resources to the beneficiaries of plans taken over by Athene. It includes facts about the recent JCPenney transaction, links to reporting on Athene’s investment practices, and contact information for relevant regulatory agencies. Beneficiaries can use the site to sign up for updates.

Publication Date: 3 May 2021

Publication Site: Businesswire

Your Pension Board Thinks It’s Smarter Than Warren Buffett—It’s Not

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2021/05/01/your-pension-board-thinks-its-smarter-than-warren-buffett-its-not/?sh=b3fdc2611302

Excerpt:

Buffett has a consistent history of blasting Wall Street firms for charging high fees for actively managed investments and has recommended pensions invest in low-cost passively managed index funds.

You might think that underfunded pensions struggling to pay benefits would heed Buffett’s advice and seek to cut the fees they pay Wall Street.

Embrace austerity. Tighten their belts. Trim the fat. 

In fact, every forensic investigation I’ve ever undertaken has exposed that the nearer a pension is to insolvency, the higher the fees and the greater the risks the pension takes on.

Author(s): Ted Siedle

Publication Date: 1 May 2021

Publication Site: Forbes

Banks resist racial-equity audits, but they shouldn’t

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.startribune.com/banks-resist-racial-equity-audits-but-they-shouldn-t/600049751/

Excerpt:

By lunchtime Tuesday we should know whether the Wells Fargo & Co. shareholders adopted a proposal to have the company conduct a racial-equity audit, an idea championed by a pension fund shareholder affiliated with the Service Employees International Union.

Wells Fargo and other big banks have recommended shareholders vote down these racial-equity audit proposals, a feature of this year’s annual shareholder meeting season.

The banks are likely to have the votes, but hopefully they don’t put the whole idea into a file and forget about it.

Author(s): Lee Schafer

Publication Date: 24 April 2021

Publication Site: Star Tribune

Pension Reform in our Time? What Butch Lewis Means for Multiemployer Plans and Participating Employers

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.seyfarth.com/dir_docs/publications/Webinar-Deck-Pension-Reform-Butch-Lewis-032421.pdf

Graphic:

Excerpt:

Conditions on Relief
• Special Financial Assistance funds (and earnings thereon) can be used to make
benefit payments and pay plan expenses
• Must be segregated from other plan assets; invested only in investment-grade
bonds or other investments as permitted by PBGC
• Deemed to be in critical status until the last plan year ending in 2051
• Plans that become insolvent after receiving relief subject to rules for insolvent
plans
• Must reinstate any previously suspended benefits under the MPRA
– Either as lump sum within 3 months or monthly equal installments over 5 years (to
begin within 3 months)
• Not eligible to apply for a new suspension of benefits under the MPRA

Author(s): Alan Cabral, Jim Hlawek, Seong Kim, Ron Kramer

Publication Date: 24 March 2021

Publication Site: Seyfarth

Multiemployer Pensions: Will the Recent Bailout Destroy Pensions (in the Long Run)?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://marypatcampbell.substack.com/p/multiemployer-pensions-will-the-recent

Graphic:

Excerpt:

I think it unlikely that Congress, at least this Congress, will pass any MEP reforms. The bill allowing for MEP benefit cuts passed under Obama, during his second term – with a Republican House and a Democratic Senate.

There may eventually be MEP reforms, but with a big cash injection into Central States Teamsters, the reckoning day has been pushed off.

The real crisis was Central States Teamsters going under. It would have taken down the PBGC. The puny plans like Warehouse Employees Union Local No. 730 Pension Trust (total liability amount: $474,757,777) are drops in the bucket compared with Central States (total liability amount: $56,790,308,499).

Author(s): Mary Pat Campbell

Publication Date: 5 April 2021

Publication Site: STUMP at substack

ARPA and Pension Plans: A Closer Look

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.asppa-net.org/news/arpa-and-pension-plans-closer-look

Excerpt:

Contribution Requirements. Callan expects that higher discount rates and longer periods for shortfall amortization probably will reduce pension plan sponsors’ contribution requirements. Further, they expect that effect to be greatest for plans with smaller normal costs and/or larger funding shortfalls.  
Callan continues that if smoothing is ever fully phased out, they anticipate contribution requirements would increase as discount rates “finally decline from historical highs to match market conditions,” but they also add that the longer amortization period “does provide a permanent reduction in annual cash requirements.”

The changes to the minimum funding requirements, Cheiron says, will result in lower minimum funding requirements. They will not affect segment rates used for other purposes such as calculation of lump sum benefits and the maximum deductible limit. 

Author(s): John Iekel

Publication Date: 29 March 2021

Publication Site: ASPPA

Pension and Executive Compensation Provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.seyfarth.com/news-insights/pension-and-executive-compensation-provisions-in-the-american-rescue-plan-act.html

Excerpt:

Seyfarth Synopsis: On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (“ARPA”), the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.  ARPA includes various forms of multiemployer and single employer pension plan relief, as well as certain executive compensation changes under Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), which are discussed further below. Please see our companion Client Alert on the other employee benefit items of interest in ARPA here.

Author(s): Seong Kim, Christina M. Cerasale, Kaley M. Ventura, Alan B. Cabral

Publication Date: 11 March 2021

Publication Site: Seyfarth

Will American Rescue Plan Act Multiemployer Pension Provisions Bring Relief To Employers?

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/will-american-rescue-plan-act-1713755/

Excerpt:

Since withdrawal liability represents the excess of the plan’s liabilities over its assets, some employers may expect that this massive influx of cash would reduce or eliminate their withdrawal liability. As of this date, however, the impact of EPPRA on an employer’s ultimate liability is unclear. The law as originally passed by the House of Representatives expressly excluded any financial assistance from the withdrawal liability calculus for a period of 15 years. However, this fund-friendly provision was struck from the bill during the Senate approval process and was not in the bill signed by President Joe Biden. In other words, under current law (e.g., EPPRA) and in the absence of anticipated regulations, an employer’s withdrawal liability could potentially be reduced or eliminated in its entirety. Unfortunately for employers, however, there is a catch.

Under EPPRA, PBGC is authorized to “impose, by regulation or other guidance, reasonable conditions on an eligible multiemployer plan that receives special assistance relating” to both “reductions in employer contribution rates” and “withdrawal liability.” The 15-year provision and the broad and express regulatory authority granted to PBGC by the statute has many practitioners (including the authors) expecting that PBGC will issue guidance similar to the excised provision. The most likely scenario is that an employer’s withdrawal liability will be calculated without regard to any EPPRA “special financial assistance” for a period of 15 years (consistent with the excised provision) or 10 years (the period for which MPRA benefit suspensions are disregarded for withdrawal liability purposes under ERISA Section 305(g)). Until PBGC issues this much-needed guidance, the exact impact of EPPRA on employers will be unknown.

Author(s): Paul Friedman, Robert Perry, David Pixley

Publication Date: 16 March 2021

Publication Site: JD Supra

Seriously Underfunded Multiemployer Defined Benefit Pension Plans—Relief Finally Arrives

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/seriously-underfunded-multiemployer-defined-benefit-pension-plans-relief-finally

Excerpt:

The Pension Relief Act provides that for the first two years after enactment, applications for special financial assistance may be filed only by the following:

plans that are insolvent or likely to become insolvent within five years of the date of enactment of the Pension Relief Act;

plans that have a present value financial assistance that exceeds $1 billion if special financial assistance is not provided;

plans that received approval under MPRA to suspend benefits; or

plans as otherwise determined by the PBGC.

Author(s): Grace H. Ristuccia, Thomas Vasiljevich

Publication Date: 16 March 2021

Publication Site: National Law Review