The Ninth Circuit recently issued a pair of decisions clarifying how the rules governing withdrawal liability apply to employers in certain industries. In Walker Specialty Const., Inc. v. Bd. of Trs. of the Constr. Indus. & Laborers Joint Pension Tr. for S. Nev., No. 24-1560, 2026 WL 21743 (9th Cir. Jan. 5, 2026), the
Withdrawal Liability
Seventh Circuit Holds Asset Sale Does Not Require Exclusion of Contributions from Withdrawal Liability Calculation
By Neil V. Shah & Sydney Juliano on
When an employer withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan, its maximum annual payment is based on all contributions it was required to remit to the plan. In SuperValu Inc. v. United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Employers Midwest Pension Fund, 155 F.4th 913 (7th Cir. Oct. 9, 2025), the Seventh Circuit affirmed that…
District Court Holds Private Equity Fund, But Not Its General Partner or Management Company, Liable for Portfolio Company’s Withdrawal Liability
By Neil V. Shah, Justin Alex & Adam Scoll on
Under ERISA, a participating employer that withdraws from a multiemployer pension plan must pay its share of the plan’s unfunded vested benefits (i.e., its withdrawal liability). ERISA’s “controlled group” rules extend this obligation to all “trades and businesses” that are under “common control” with the withdrawing employer, thereby making the withdrawing employer and each controlled…
Eleventh Circuit Holds Pension Fund Correctly Applied Partial Withdrawal Liability Credit
By Neil V. Shah & Sydney Juliano on
In Perfection Bakeries Inc. v. Retail Wholesale & Dep’t Store Int’l Union & Indus. Pension Fund, No. 23-12533, 147 F.4th 1314 (11th Cir. Aug. 1, 2025), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that an employer’s credit for a prior partial withdrawal from a multiemployer pension plan must be applied at the second step of the four-step statutory…