In Buckner v. Murray, No. 21-cv-567, 2024 WL 1366785 (D.D.C. Mar. 30, 2024), the court dismissed the United Mine Workers of America 1974 Pension Plan’s suit to collect $6.5 billion in withdrawal liability because the trustees...more
It’s hard to keep up with all the recent changes to labor and employment law, especially since the law always seems to evolve at a rapid pace. In order to ensure you stay on top of the latest changes and have an action plan...more
Last Friday, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a district court’s decision upholding an arbitration award requiring an employer to pay more than $2.3 million in...more
In a classic man-bites-dog turnaround, a federal appeals court ordered a Teamsters pension fund to return approximately $2 million in withdrawal liability payments to an employer that had stopped contributing in 2005. The...more
Unionized employers participating in an underfunded multiemployer pension plan face significant financial exposure when withdrawing (completely or partially) from the plan. The cost (called “withdrawal liability”) is...more
A recent decision from the Southern District of New York reveals that courts may be inclined in some withdrawal liability cases to narrowly apply the building and construction industry exemption based on the nature and...more
On January 27, 2022, in New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund v. C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., the Second Circuit joined the Third, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits in applying the doctrine of successor...more
In Sofco Erectors, Inc. v. Trustees of the Ohio Operating Engineers Pension Fund (“Sofco”) (September, 28, 2021), the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a long awaited decision regarding the appropriateness of interest...more
In a major win for the Steelworkers Pension Trust (SPT), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld an award totaling $96 million in withdrawal liability and additional statutory penalties against the Renco Group,...more
Approximately a quarter of the workforce covered by a traditional pension plan is in a multiemployer plan, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many manufacturers that participate in such plans are unaware their...more
On November 20, Republican Senators Charles Grassley and Lamar Alexander – chairmen of the committees with jurisdiction over pensions – jointly released the Multiemployer Pension Recapitalization and Reformation Plan (the...more
If you use union employees in your projects, you may contribute to a multiemployer pension plan—perhaps a few cents or few dollars per hour worked. However, some employers are surprised to learn they could be assessed with...more
Companies that contribute to multiemployer pension plans are often rightfully worried that corporate restructurings may inadvertently trigger either a complete or a partial withdrawal from the plan. A recent case out of the...more
If an employer withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan such that the employer no longer has an obligation to contribute to the plan, the withdrawing employer is generally responsible for its share of the plan’s...more
Here is an update to our prior client alert titled, "Construction Industry Double-Breasting: Recent Trends and Best Practices," which now includes additional information about a recent court decision impacting employers in...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Seventh Circuit has now applied a clear error standard of review to a withdrawal liability arbitrator’s interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement, thus enhancing the role of the arbitrator in...more
In a decision handed down by the Seventh Circuit on June 24, 2016, the court warned that a lack of familiarity with the concept of withdrawal liability cannot be used by a buyer of business assets as an excuse to avoid...more
In a recent decision that has important implications for purchasers of assets that come with a multiemployer union pension plan, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held in Tsareff v. ManWeb Services, Inc., 794...more
Two significant developments in the multi-employer pension world emerged in September, developments which could give manufacturers concern. While this is not the time to panic (we have plenty of time to panic), readers...more
I have blogged before [May 16, 2012, November 21, 2012, April 23, 2012, May 15, 2012, September 5, 2012] about the liability that can be imposed on businesses whose union employees participate in a multiemployer pension plan...more