News and Analysis

Status of Applications to Reduce Benefits​

• Applications for Benefit Suspension​, Department of Treasury, ongoing
  

• Musician’s Pension Opts for ARPA Over MPRA, Chief Investment Officer, 4/5/21
  
• Indiana roofers union pension fund applies for MPRA benefit cuts, Pensions & Investments, 1/25/21
  
• Two More Pension Funds Apply to Treasury Department for Benefits Cuts [Arizona Bricklayers & Michigan Carpenters], Chief Investment Officer, 11/9/20
  
• Ohio Teamsters Pension Fund Seeks Benefits Reduction, Chief Investment Officer, 9/15/20
  
• Treasury Rejects Benefit Cut Requests from Musicians, Teamsters Pensions, Chief Investment Officer, 8/13/20
  
• Teamsters Local 807 MPRA application expected to be denied, Pensions & Investments, 8/11/20
  
• Actuarial Firms, Treasury Clash Over Union Pension Cuts, Plansponsor, 8/11/20
  
• Ohio Bricklayers local seeks benefits cuts, partition, Pensions & Investments, 6/26/20
  
• Treasury OKs Benefits Cuts for Ohio, NY Union Pensions, Chief Investment Officer, 5/22/20
  

American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Includes Multiemployer Pension Relief

• Multiemployer Pension Rescue Tracker, House Education & Labor Committee, 2/2/22
  
• PBGC Improves Multiemployer Outlook Due to ARPA, International Foundation, 9/28/21
  
• Five Key Points to Know About PBGC Special Financial Assistance,  International Foundation, 8/30/21
  
• Groups File Recommendations to PBGC on Multiemployer Plan Assistance, Plansponsor, 8/13/21
  
• Special Financial Assistance: Filing and Application Tips From PBGC Staff, International Foundation, 8/12/21
  
• PBGC Implements Special Financial Assistance Program for Financially Troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans, International Foundation, 7/15/21
  
• How Multiemployer Plan Sponsors Can Manage Relief Payments, PlanSponsor, 7/19/21
  
• Troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans: PBGC Issues Regulation on ARPA Special Financial Assistance, Morgan Lewis, 7/19/21
  
• PBGC Issues Guidance on New Special Financial Assistance Program for Troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans, Proskauer, 7/15/21
  
• The American Rescue Plan Act: New Relief for Multiemployer Pension Plans, International Foundation, May 2021
  
• What the American Rescue Plan Act Means for Financially Troubled Multiemployer Pension Plans, International Foundation, 3/10/21
  
• Three Key Takeaways: What ARPA Means for Green Zone Pension Plans, International Foundation, 4/29/21
  
• Fearing for Their Pensions, Union Workers See Hope In Federal Aid, Colorado Public Radio, 5/10/21
  
• What Comes After 2051 Pension Relief Sunset? It Depends, Attorneys Say, Bloomberg Law, 4/21/21
  
• Struggling Multiemployer Pension Plans Receive a Lifeline Under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Perkins Coie, 3/15/21
  
• American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, Milliman, 3/11/21
  
• The American Rescue Plan and Multiemployer Pension Relief, Segal, 3/11/21
  
• Troubled Multiemployer Plans Get Relief, Cheiron, 3/11/21
  
  

• Proposed Multiemployer Pension Recapitalization and Reform Plan, Word on Benefits blog, 11/26/19
  
• Navigating a Benefit Suspension Application Under MPRA, Benefits Magazine, May 2019
  
• Multiemployer Pension Solvency Discussions: What’s Next?, Word on Benefits blog, 11/29/18
  
• Confronting and Surviving Insolvency: A Guide for Multiemployer Pension Plans, Benefits Magazine, October 2017
  
• A Balancing Act: Deciding Whether to Pursue Benefit Reductions Under MPRA​, Benefits Magazine, April 2016 ​​
  
• MPRA Aims to Strengthen PBGC, Benefits Magazine, February 2016​​
  
• Can a Merger Save Your Pension Plan?​, Benefits Magazine, October 2015
  
• PPA Paradoxes Eliminated: MPRA Offers Technical Corrections...and More​, Benefits Magazine, August 2015 
  
• MPRA Guidance-What Does It Mean?​, Word on Benefits blog, 7/13/15 
  
• Finding Goldilocks: The Retiree Representative Under MPRA, Benefits Magazine, June 2015 
  
• Multiemployer Pension Plan Reform: How Will the New Rules Impact Employers and Employees?, Benefits Magazine, April 2015
• Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, Benefits Magazine, February 2015             
• What the Cromnibus Law Means for Multiemployer Pension Plans, International Foundation Word on Benefits blog, 12/15/14
  

Analysis & Whitepapers

• Selection of Actuarial Assumptions for Multiemployer Plans, American Academy of Actuaries, July 2020
  
• Determining Withdrawal Liability for Multiemployer Pension Plans: A Range of Approaches to Actuarial Assumptions, American Academy of Actuaries, April 2020
  
• Multiemployer Pension Plan Reform Policy Issues: Active Multiemployer Plan Participants Face Higher Contributions and Lower Benefit Levels as Funding Challenges Mount and are Left Unaddressed by Congress, Horizon Actuarial Services, MCAA and United Association, June 2019
  
• Pensionomics 2018: Measuring the Economic Impact of Multiemployer DB Pension Expenditures, National Institute on Retirement Security, January 2019
  
• The Multiemployer Pension Plan Crisis: Observations, Segal Consulting, 7/10/18
• History and Structure of the Multiemployer Pension System, American Academy of Actuaries, 5/18/18
  
• Data on Multiemployer Defined Benefit (DB) Pension Plans, Congressional Research Service, 5/1/18 
  
• Multiemployer Defined Benefit (DB) Pension Plans: A Primer and Analysis of Policy Options, Congressional Research Service, 3/29/18
  
• U.S. Chamber, National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans Release Principles for Multiemployer Pension Reform, NCCMP, 3/14/18
• The Multiemployer Pension Plan Crisis: The History, Legislation, and What's Next?, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, December 2017
• Multiemployer Pension Plans: Current Status and Future Trends, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, November 2017
  
• Multiemployer Plans: Their Current Circumstances in Historical Context, DOL EBSA & Impaq International, September 2017
  

• Overview of Multiemployer Pension System Issues​, American Academy of Actuaries Issue Brief, June 2017​

• Honoring the PBGC Guarantee for Multiemployer Plans Requires Difficult Choices​, American Academy of Actuaries, 10/20/16 
  

• Solutions Not Bailouts, Retirement Security Review Commission, National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans (NCCMP), February 2013