Headlines about "Bankruptcy"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
Book Review of 'Pension Dumping: The Reasons, the Wreckage, the Stakes for Wall Street'
Excerpt: "[The author] Ms. Hawthorne has turned her attention to an important issue that in today's economy isn't going [away] anytime soon, pension plan terminations. In her new book, . . . Ms. Hawthorne takes an in-depth look on what happens when financially troubled companies terminate their defined benefit pension plans through bankruptcy." (Retirement Plan Blog)

[Guidance Overview] 'Issueman' Tackles the New VEBAs: There is Much to Say
Benefits attorney Steven J. Sacher encounters his cynical old friend Issueman on a bench in D.C.; in this amusing and insightful 6-page account and transcript of their conversation, Issueman has a great deal to say and ask about the legal aspects of VEBAs for retiree healthcare liabilities. An excellent overview. (Reprinted from the BNA Pension & Benefits Reporter)

Pension Turbulence for Airline Employees
Excerpt: "It's not just the airline industry. Across the United States, companies feeling the squeeze from low-cost foreign competition, new technology, rising oil prices, recession and changing consumer patterns -- ranging from Rust Belt steel, textile and auto parts makers to white-collar insurance giants -- have found that when they need to save money, their 'legacy' defined benefit pension plans are one of the most convenient places to cut. [This article is adapted from 'Pension Dumping: The Reasons, the Wreckage, the Stakes for Wall Street,' by Fran Hawthorne (Bloomberg Press, April 2008).]" (NewsDay)

Bankruptcy Appellate Panel Limits 401(k) Loan Deduction
Excerpt: "A 401(k) participant now seeking Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection may only deduct the balance she owes on two plan loans from her bankruptcy estate." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Court Gives Delphi Extensions on GM, Pension Deals
Excerpt: "Judge Robert Drain allowed Delphi to extend until April 15 an agreement that allows it to transfer billions of dollars of union pension liabilities to former parent GM. The agreement was to expire on Monday." (Reuters)

Funds to Be Restored to Enron Litigation Settlement Fund
Excerpt: "In a settlement with the Department of Labor (DOL), Hewitt Associates and the Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. have agreed to restore $11.2 million to a court supervised settlement fund for Enron participants." (Wolters Kluwer)

Dana Corporation, Other Firms Maintain Defined Benefits Plans During Reorganizations
Excerpt: "During Dana's bankruptcy, the company continued to make its legally required funding contributions and consolidated 34 defined benefit plans into seven pension funds. The changes reduced Dana's minimum funding contributions by $60 million through the year 2012. These moves will significantly improve the financial health of Dana's seven defined benefit plans, which cover more than 53,000 participants, of which almost 15,000 are active employees. By reducing the number of plans, Dana made its pension obligations more affordable and lessened the possibility that the plans would be assumed by the PBGC in the future." (Wolters Kluwer)

W.R. Grace Cleared on Pension Payments
Excerpt: "Chemical company W.R. Grace & Co. has won bankruptcy court approval to make $17.8 million in contributions to the defined benefit pension plans that cover its U.S. workers." (AP via Forbes.com)

United Taking a Flier with Pensions
Excerpt: "Back in 2005, United Airlines . . . terminated its employee pension plans, creating the single largest corporate pension default in U.S. history. . . . It seems, though, that the unions, shareholders, creditors, government -- and, most importantly, the retirees -- got hoodwinked. United had an asset on its books that could have paid for the entire cost of the pension obligations -- and then some -- but according to the financial statements at the time, it was a negative asset, a cost." (The Motley Fool)

Text: ''Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2007'' (PDF)
30 pages. Excerpt: "To amend title 11, United States Code, to improve protections for employees and retirees in business bankruptcies." (U.S. House of Representatives via American Benefits Council)

Introductory Statement and Text of Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act, S.2092 (PDF)
Excerpt: "S. 2092. A bill to amend title 11, United States Code, to improve protections for employees and retirees in business bankruptcies; to the Committee on the Judiciary." (American Benefits Council)

Delphi to Freeze Pension Plans
Excerpt: "Financially troubled auto parts manufacturer Delphi Corp. will freeze its two pension plans and shift some pension liabilities to former parent General Motors Corp. under a bankruptcy reorganization proposal filed [September 6] and an agreement reached with GM." (Business Insurance)

Employer-Sponsored Benefits: Many Factors Affect Treatment of Pension & Health Benefits in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
48 pages. Excerpt: "This report addresses (1) how, if at all, recent legislative changes affected the treatment of pension and health benefits during chapter 11 bankruptcies, and (2) what is known about the extent to which businesses have modified employee or retiree pension and health benefits. [Highlights are at http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d071101high.pdf.]" (U.S. Government Accountability Office)

Deducting 401(k) Loan Repayments Can't Help Debtor Escape Bankruptcy Abuse Finding
Excerpt: "A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Ohio has ruled that a 401(k) participant can't deduct $269 in monthly repayments for three plan loans from his monthly income to meet a legal showing that the debtor is not abusing federal bankruptcy laws." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Delta Pilots Say Airline Owes Them $100 Million in Pension Benefits
Excerpt: "ABOUT 1,000 retired Delta Air Lines pilots asked a federal bankruptcy judge Tuesday to award them at least $100 million in pension benefits they say Delta hasn't paid them. The pilots say in filings made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York that Delta hasn't paid the benefits because the company is misinterpreting federal tax law." (Daily Report)

Judge to Rule on Oneida Pension Dispute
Excerpt: "A judge will decide if Oneida Ltd., which emerged from bankruptcy last year after walking away from a pension plan covering nearly 1,900 workers and retirees, must pay millions of dollars in 'termination fees' to the government's pension insurer." (AP via Forbes.com)

Tower Automotive Exits Bankruptcy with Pension Intact
Excerpt: "Tower Automotive's financial difficulties and bankruptcy aren't that unusual a story in the auto parts industry these days. What is notable, though, is that the company's defined-benefit pension plan was not one of the obligations it shed in order to emerge from bankruptcy, an achievement that won it praise today from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp." (Financial Week; free registration required)

Fed Gov Ordered to Send Criminal Court Proceeding Notice to Victims of TPA Charged with Embezzlement
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: Although we rarely report on cases at this stage of the proceedings, we do so here because the defendant appears to be one of the first individuals to face federal criminal charges for allegedly embezzling HSA funds. The bankruptcy trustee . . . has received permission from the bankruptcy court to engage special ERISA counsel to help recover the lost funds." (Employee Benefits Institute of America Inc.)

UAL Can't Stop Pilots' Pension Suit Against Union, Judge Says
Excerpt: "UAL Corp., parent company of United Airlines, failed to quash a lawsuit filed on behalf of about 1,700 pilots claiming their union didn't adequately defend their pensions as the carrier emerged from bankruptcy." (Bloomberg News)

Court Allows 403(b) Bankruptcy Exclusion
Excerpt: "A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge has ruled that a bankrupt couple could keep the wife's 403(b) assets out of their bankruptcy estate." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

6th Circuit Holds Unpaid Employer Contributions Do Not Fall Within Bankruptcy Discharge Exceptions
Excerpt: "In this case, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the question of whether the United States Bankruptcy Code excludes from discharge a debt that an employer owes for failing to contribute to employee benefit funds. The Court held that it does not. The issue in the case involved employer contributions only as further explained [in the targt page]." (Health Plan Law blog by Attorney Roy F. Harmon III)

Overview: Executive Compensation and Bankruptcy: Retention Payment Rules
2 pages. Excerpt: "Federal trial courts have begun interpreting changes made to the Bankruptcy Code in 2005 that were designed to restrict retention pay and severance benefits. Several recent cases have addressed what constitutes a retention payment, so as to be subject to the special and strict rules on the addition of that type of compensation during bankruptcy." (NASPP Advisor via Utz Miller & Kuhn LLC)

Delta Bankruptcy Recovery Deal Nice for Retired Pilots
Excerpt: "Delta emerged on Monday from Chapter 11 protection, where it had spent the past 19 months. Terms of the bankruptcy deal call for Delta to pay retired pilots an estimated 65 cents for every dollar owed by their supplemental retirement plan, and an estimated 85 cents for a qualified plan, said Miller & Martin partner G. Dean Booth." (Daily Report)

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