Native American Tribes sponsoring pension plans

[Guest meggie]

Dennis- where can I get my hands on the law review commentary "ERISA and Indian Tribes:Alternative Approaches for Respecting Tribal Sovereignty"? I've checked the FreeERISA website for a select few tribal nations amd see that they have filed Form 5500 for their 401(k) pension plans and even welfare plans. If tribal nations fall under "governmental", then it is not clear to me why they filed.

My goal is to get some closure on whether pension plans sponsored by Native American tribes are subject to ERISA.

[Carol V. Calhoun]

http://www.benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=2265

Just confirming what I said in my other post, you might also want to check out the link above for a lengthy prior discussion of the extent to which a Native American tribe's plan is or is not subject to ERISA.

[Guest meggie]

I've already gone through the earlier postings on the subject. Based on those discussions, I was leaning toward the conclusion that pension plans sponsored by Native American tribal govs are not subject to ERISA, but on the other hand, based on facts and circumstance, they could be subject to ERISA if the employees of the organization do not perform governmental/tribal functions and it is primarily a business operation.

The FreeERISA website has 5500 filings of various plans sponsored by Native American Tribes. Given that, I believe we are dealing with facts and circumstances unless there is some legislative guidance that I have missed.