Suspension of Benefits Under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014

概要

The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 ("MPRA"), which was enacted by Congress as part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015, relates to multiemployer defined benefit pension plans that are projected to have insufficient funds, within a specified timeframe, to pay the full plan benefits to which individuals will be entitled (referred to as plans in "critical and declining status"). Under MPRA, the sponsor of a plan in critical and declining status is permitted to reduce the pension benefits payable to plan participants and beneficiaries if certain conditions and limitations are satisfied (referred to in MPRA as a "suspension of benefits"). MPRA requires the Secretary of the Treasury (Treasury Department), in consultation with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) and the Secretary of Labor (Labor Department), to approve or deny applications by sponsors of these plans to reduce benefits. These regulations affect active, retired, and deferred vested participants and beneficiaries of multiemployer plans that are in critical and declining status as well as employers contributing to, and sponsors and administrators of, those plans.