Government Pension Insurer Backs Company-Friendly Liability Rule

The federal government’s pension insurer waded into a burgeoning legal dispute over withdrawal liability calculations, advising the Seventh Circuit to split from other courts by endorsing a calculation method that favors employers over pension funds.

When an employer completely withdraws from a multiemployer pension fund after previously experiencing a partial withdrawal, the employer’s final bill should be reduced on a “dollar-for-dollar” basis by what it paid in connection with the partial withdrawal, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. told the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in a June 5 amicus brief. This approach “coheres with the text ...