News Archive

"Up to 33% of the SFA may be invested in return-seeking assets. The remaining SFA must be invested in investment-grade fixed-income securities and cash. PBGC says it has received questions about which fixed-income investments qualify as permissible SFA investments and the types of derivative exposure that are allowed. In response, they propose several clarifications and amendments to the investment rules."  MORE >>

"PBGC runs two distinct insurance programs: one for single-employer pensions and a second for multiemployer plans.... PBGC maintains separate reserve funds for each program." [CRS 95-118 updated Jun. 18, 2026; also available: CRS IF10492, PBGC: an Overview]  MORE >>

"[T]he Metz timing rule has no basis in the statutory text.... [T]he relevant statute contains only two requirements for actuarial assumptions. They have to be reasonable, and they have to offer the actuary's best estimate of the plan's anticipated experience. So ... there is an objective and a subjective component. The assumptions must be objectively reasonable, and they subjectively must represent the actuary's judgment, not ... the plan's judgment. What the statute doesn't say is anything about a timing rule." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

18 pages. "The [PBGC] is proposing technical corrections, clarifications, and improvements to the restrictions and conditions in its regulation on special financial assistance. These changes would clarify (a) the permissibility of investing special financial assistance in certain securities and (b) the condition requiring PBGC approval for settling withdrawal liability claims. The amendments also would repeal a provision that enabled plans that received special financial assistance to request the reallocation of employer contributions to pay for health benefit costs." [Comment period closes Aug. 17, 2026.]  MORE >>

"Future disputes will weigh the consistency of application of valuation metrics, justifications for changing discount rates, the facts and circumstances surrounding rate changes, and other factors.... Discount rate applications may dramatically affect withdrawal liability payments and may change after the effective date of withdrawal." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]   MORE >>

"On its face, M & K is narrow in scope. It resolves a simple timing issue about when a rate may be changed. It does not directly answer the bigger question that is on every withdrawal liability practitioner's mind: To what extent may an actuary use a lower discount rate for withdrawal liability purposes (e.g., 6.5%) than for minimum funding purposes (e.g., 7.5%)? In practice, that bigger question about when actuaries may use different rates for different purposes arises far more frequently and will likely need to be resolved by the Supreme Court at some point soon." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The appellate court reasoned that the 'best estimate' standard permits the actuary to set assumptions after the valuation date as long as they are 'based on the body of knowledge available up to the valuation date.' The Supreme Court unanimously affirmed, holding that, in context, 'as of' is 'understood to 'assign an event to one time and the recognition of it to another.'' Thus, the facts must exist on the valuation date, but the valuation may be performed after that date. And an assumption is not a fact but a valuation tool, adopted when the need for a valuation arises." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"FACT actuaries were contacted by staff at PBGC and ... were told that we may proceed in completing applications on behalf of these terminated multiemployer plans to pursue SFA, and that PBGC would agree to pay expenses incurred by professionals on behalf of affected, insolvent funds applying for this SFA.... PBGC conceded ... that they will accept, into 2027, additional data that they may request to incorporate into a successful application.... The PBGC stated that they will not consider applications from outside the 2nd Circuit at this time."  MORE >>

"By endorsing a cumulative headcount method for the 'substantially all' test, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision provides a participant‑level measurement methodology for plans and employers within that circuit and may be persuasive authority for courts in other circuits looking at this issue. Plans that had been using month‑by‑month headcounts or other approaches may need to reevaluate their methodologies to avoid inconsistency with this interpretation[.]" [General Electric Co. v. Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Pension Trust, No. 25-1442 (8th Cir. May 26, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The unanimous decision ... resolved a split among the circuit courts as to whether the plans' actuaries must set assumptions before the measurement date or may do so afterward based on information available as of that date. The decision should settle at least one contentious aspect of withdrawal liability calculations for multiemployer plans across the country." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]   MORE >>

"[T]he Court affirmed the D.C. Circuit's view that ERISA does not require actuarial assumptions to be selected on or before the measurement date, so long as the withdrawal liability is calculated as of that date. That approach conflicted with the Second Circuit's 2020 decision ... where the court rejected a withdrawal liability assessment based on assumptions adopted after the measurement date.... By adopting the D.C. Circuit's reading, the Supreme Court eliminated that disagreement and established a uniform national rule on the timing of assumption selection for withdrawal liability calculations." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The Court explained.... that the statutory language in 29 U.S.C. Section 1391's directive to calculate withdrawal liability based on plan assets and liabilities 'as of' the measurement date identifies the relevant valuation point but does not prescribe when the underlying assumptions must be chosen. The Court rejected the petitioners' argument that this language imposes a cutoff, emphasizing that it fixes the point in time for measuring liability rather than regulating the timing of actuarial decision-making." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Under the decision, actuaries for multiemployer pension plans are clearly able to set or change the withdrawal liability assumptions after the end of a plan year. The issue as to whether, as the D.C. Circuit held, the assumptions had to be based (or were based) on information available as of the end of the plan year will likely be the subject of future arbitrations and future cases." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Applying deferential review, the court declined to disturb the Trustees' reasonable interpretation that the Expulsion Provision permitted termination of a single bargaining unit without expelling all of Penske's other units.... The court next held that Central States' decision to expel Local 745 was not arbitrary or capricious.... Finally, the court affirmed dismissal of Central States' counterclaim seeking a declaration that Local 745's effective withdrawal date was 2021." [Penske Truck Leasing, L.P. v. Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Plan, No. 25-1738 (7th Cir. May 29, 2026)]  MORE >>

24 pages. "This report addresses the OIG's accomplishments for the semiannual reporting period from October 1, 2025, through March 31, 2026.... Investigative activities [in this time period included]: 737 Complaints received; 4 Criminal investigations referred for prosecution; 1/0 Indictments/Convictions; 23 Subpoenas issued."  MORE >>

"Not all withdrawals are planned. Sometimes they occur because an employer loses a business contract and simply no longer has work on which to deploy that union workforce.... ERISA allows contributing employers to annually request from a multiemployer plan estimates of withdrawal liability. They are just that. Estimates.... [H]ad M&K requested an estimate during the plan year in which it withdrew, that estimate would have used the old 7.5% interest rate, around $1.8 million. Yet their actual withdrawal liability was $6.2 million." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"[T]he Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's judgment upholding an arbitrator's determination that General Electric Company qualified for the building and construction industry exemption to withdrawal liability under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (MPPAA), and therefore owed no withdrawal liability to the Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Pension Trust on either of the Fund's partial withdrawal assessments." [General Electric Co. v. Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Pension Trust, No. 25-1442 (8th Cir. May 26, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Resolving a circuit split, the U.S. Supreme Court ... held that actuarial assumptions used to calculate withdrawal liability may be selected after the measurement date. The Court reasoned that actuarial assumptions are forward-looking 'predictive judgments,' and ERISA does not impose a deadline requiring them to be set before the measurement date." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"[1] Withdrawal liability may be higher -- and less predictable -- than you expect.... [2] Arbitration remains your primary remedy.... [3] Engage actuarial and legal advisers early.... [4] Monitor plan communications closely." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"The decision confirms the DC Circuit's view that plans need not have actuarial assumptions in place on the measurement date. The Supreme Court did not decide whether those assumptions must rely only on information available as of that date." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"An employer seeking to challenge actuarial assumptions can still request review and demand arbitration, at which point it is now even more critical to press the actuary on the information relied upon to develop the assumptions used to calculate the pension fund's unfunded vested benefits. To the extent an actuary relies on information that becomes known only after the measurement date in developing an assumption, or the assumption is otherwise unreasonable, that assumption is impermissible." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"Employers might have to pay much more in the future when withdrawing from multiemployer pension plans. In a unanimous decision ... the U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 21 that actuarial assumptions for calculating withdrawal liability may be adopted after the last day of the plan year preceding the employer's withdrawal from the plan -- a decision that in this case could result in a payment six times greater than what the employers thought they owed." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled that ERISA does not require pension plans to assess with­drawal liability based on actuarial assumptions adopted be­fore the measurement date.... [R]equiring actuaries to use assumptions se­lected before the measurement date could prevent them from relying on the most up-to-date data when select­ing their assumption." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>

"[T]he US Supreme Court ... [held] that, under [ERISA], an actuary for an underfunded multiemployer pension plan may calculate an employer's withdrawal liability based on actuarial assumptions adopted after the relevant measurement date for withdrawal liability. In other words, the actuary is not required to select actuarial assumptions 'as of' the measurement date."  [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]   MORE >>

"Employers planning to exit a multiemployer pension fund may wish to carefully consider the timing of the withdrawal. The measurement date for withdrawal liability will be the end of the plan's fiscal year prior to withdrawal, but the actuarial assumptions may be tied to a later date." [M&K Employee Solutions, LLC v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund, No. 23-1209 (S. Ct. May 21, 2026)]  MORE >>