Blog / Multi-Employer Plans
In the world of multiemployer retirement and pension plans, it pays to ensure your business’s multiemployer retirement benefits are compliant, up-to-date, and properly funded. Multiemployer plans incur the same regulatory compliance standards as traditional qualified retirement plans, but at a much higher level of complexity given the number of parties involved. Multiemployer plans require coordination between a joint board of union and management trustees and fall under the governance of not only the Employee Retirement Income Security Act but also the Multiemployer Pension Plan Act of 1980. Multiemployer plans require qualified actuary approval and composition of yearly minimum funding requirements and zone certifications. Withdrawal liability calculations when an employer leaves a multiemployer plan are equally important; these calculations identify unfunded liability based on plan influences like discount rates and employment figures. Ensure you have the tools you need to manage your multiemployer plan by reading our multiemployer articles on the Watkins Ross blog and partnering with Watkins Ross actuaries. Together we can protect against penalties and verify your multiemployer plan meets all funding qualifications, reporting requirements, and deadlines.
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), which includes much-needed relief for multiemployer plans. Many plans are already insolvent, with the PBGC paying the plan’s benefits at the lower PBGC guaranteed benefit amount
Recent class action lawsuits targeting the reasonability of actuarial equivalence factors used in defined benefit plans have been making news, what does this mean for you?