Opinion letters database

Addresses the allocation of a multiemployer plan's UVB to withdrawing employers under § 4211.

Calculation of withdrawal liability with respect to partners in a partnership and the application of section 4205.

Addresses abatement rules for abatements that occurred prior to issuance of regulations.

Dispute resolution.

PBGC refused to reconsider Opinion Letter 86-2.

Interpretation under § 4205(b)(2)(A)(i) as to whether an employer that permanently ceases covered work under collective bargaining agreements and contracts to buy the services has transferred such work to another location.

Fact specific as to whether the Seller will incur liability to the PBGC under sections 4062, 4063, 4064, or 4069 of ERISA if the B Plans are terminated following the sale.

Title IV overage applies to fully insured plans.

Whether plan is entitled to a refund of premiums. (Based on old definition of participant)

Application of §§ 4206(b)(1) and 4219 to computation of annual payments owed by an employer that has incurred successive partial withdrawals.

Regulation does not require a plan sponsor of multiemployer plan to refund an employer, with interest, excess withdrawal liability paid by employer when employer failed to initiate plan review and arbitration processes of §§ 4219 and 4221.

Withdrawal liability of "joint employers" under Title IV.

Determination that there is no successor plan relationship for purposes of §§ 4021(a) and 4022(b).

Proper method for determining withdrawal liability when the liable employer is a group of trades or businesses under common control would be to aggregate the contribution data for all members of the controlled group.

Employer in a multiemployer plan is assessed withdrawal liability regardless of the reason for the withdrawal.

Seller loses the benefit of § 4204 if it doesn't timely assert § 4204 as a defense to plan's claim for withdrawal liability; requires the application for a waiver of bond/escrow and contract language requirements and to timely raise the § 4204 defense.

Terminated plan's transfer of excess assets to separate trust to await further disposition would not violate Title IV.

Date of withdrawal of employer who suspended contributions during a strike pursuant to ERISA § 4218(2) and later permanently ceases to have an obligation to contribute is the date contributions were suspended, not the date on which section 4218(2) ceased to apply to the employer.

How reduction is made by a pension plan for § 4206(b)(1), when an employer has been assessed liability in a prior plan year for a partial withdrawal, that the employer's liability for any subsequent withdrawal be reduced by the amount of the previously assessed partial withdrawal liability.

PBGC cannot approve recovery by employer of excess or residual assets without full termination of plan.

This opinion letter addresses a question as to what constitutes a facility for purposes of determining what CBUs get excluded due to a pre-1980 closure of a facility.

To determine the value of a lump sum, plan administrator must follow PBGC's regulations, follow plan terms, and use reasonable actuarial assumptions.

When an employer withdraws from a plan before a sale of assets, § 4204 cannot be used to prevent the assessment of withdrawal liability.

Whether PBGC's regulation on Variances for Sales of Assets (29 CFR Part 2643) -- specifically § 2643.11 -- requires a multiemployer pension plan to waive the
bond/escrow and contract language requirements of section 4204(a)(1)(B) and (C) under specific circumstances.

Transfer of assets and liabilities from a terminated multiemployer plan to other multiemployer plans pursuant to reciprocity agreements.