We recently reported on a district court decision holding that the Central States Pension Fund’s calculation of withdrawal liability should not have included contribution rate increases imposed after the Fund’s implementation of a rehabilitation plan. In Central States, S.E. & S.W. Pension Fund v. Event Media Inc., Nos. 24-1739 & 1740-42, 2025 WL 1185368

Justin Alex
Justin S. Alex is a partner and a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group.
Justin advises private and public companies on all aspects of their employee benefits and executive compensation arrangements and plans.
He has particular experience in the sports industry, including employment agreements for executives at the highest levels in professional sports and the benefits and compensation aspects of numerous transactions, such as the purchase or sale of the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Miami Marlins, Real Salt Lake, OL Reign, Professional Hockey Federation, the Licensed Sports Group Unit of VF Corporation, Full Swing Golf, and ADPRO Sports and the merger of the USFL and XFL.
In addition to Justin's general benefits and compensation practice, he spends a significant portion of his time advising employers and financial sponsors with respect to pension liabilities. He also advises the trustees of collectively bargained single-employer and multiemployer plans with respect to their administration, governance, and legal compliance.
Prior to joining Proskauer, Justin was an attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), where he gained significant experience with pension termination and underfunding issues. He also represented the PBGC in corporate bankruptcies and federal court litigation.
Justin is the co-editor of Proskauer’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Blog and the Hiring Partner for Proskauer’s Washington office. He also serves on the Board of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
EBSA Releases Long-Awaited Update to Model Annual Funding Notices Reflecting SECURE 2.0 Changes
Following up on our recent blog post, SECURE 2.0’s Required Changes to Annual Funding Notice Become Effective in 2025, the Department of Labor released Field Assistance Bulletin 2025-02 on April 3, which addresses compliance questions regarding the required changes to AFNs under SECURE 2.0 and includes two updated model AFNs incorporating these changes.[1]…
SECURE 2.0’s Required Changes to Annual Funding Notices Become Effective in 2025
SECURE 2.0 introduced many changes for retirement plans, including updated disclosure requirements for a defined benefit plan’s annual funding notice (AFN). These updated AFN disclosure requirements apply for all plan years beginning after December 31, 2023. For calendar-year defined benefit plans, the first AFNs subject to the revised requirements will be due by April 30…
District Court Rules Employer’s Withdrawal Liability Cannot Be Based on Post-Rehabilitation Plan Contribution Increases
In Central States, S.E. & S.W. Pension Fund v. McKesson Corp., No. 23-cv-16770, 2025 WL 81358 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 13, 2025), the district court affirmed that a multiemployer pension plan’s calculation of withdrawal liability should not have included contribution rate increases imposed after the plan had implemented a rehabilitation plan.