US Supreme Court permits later actuarial assumptions for withdrawal liability
Multiemployer pension plans may use post-date actuarial assumptions if they satisfy ERISA’s best-estimate standard
SCOTUS
·
Change
The U.S. Supreme Court held that ERISA does not require actuarial assumptions for multiemployer pension withdrawal liability to be selected on or before the statutory measurement date.
Why it matters
The decision fixes plan data such as beneficiary counts and asset values to the measurement date, but allows actuarial assumptions to be selected later. Withdrawal-liability disputes now turn on whether the assumptions are reasonable, reflect plan experience and expectations, and represent the actuary’s best estimate under ERISA §1393.
Implications
- — Multiemployer pension plan actuaries must document why post-measurement-date assumptions satisfy ERISA §1393’s reasonable and best-estimate standards.
- — Plan administrators and trustees must validate withdrawal-liability calculations against §1393 reasonableness before issuing assessments to withdrawing employers.
- — Employers withdrawing from multiemployer pension plans must challenge the reasonableness of actuarial assumptions rather than relying only on the date those assumptions were adopted.
Full decision brief
See the decision layer
Use 1 free preview to unlock implications, who’s affected, what to watch, and Clarify for this brief.
2 free previews left this month · Resets 1 Jun
Source