The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) proposed changes to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (the “VFCP”) in November for the first time since 2006. The most significant change is the addition of a self-correction option for delinquent deposits of participant contributions and loan repayments. The other changes clarify and expand certain existing aspects of
Delinquent Contributions
Ninth Circuit Deepens Circuit Split Over Whether Delinquent Contributions Are Plan Assets
By Neil V. Shah on
The Ninth Circuit held that employer contributions due to a Taft Hartley fund are not plan assets until they are actually paid to the fund, irrespective of whether the plan document defines plan assets to include unpaid employer contributions. As a result, a fund could not hold a contributing employer’s owner and treasurer personally liable…
Delinquent Contributing Employer May Be Fiduciary
By Anthony Cacace on
The Second Circuit held that the owner of a contributing employer to multiemployer benefit plans breached his fiduciary duties by failing to make required contributions and was thus personally liable for the delinquencies, interest, and attorneys’ fees.
Employers’ Discretion Over Whether to Pay Contributions Does Not Confer Fiduciary Status
In Int’l Painters and Allied Trades Indus. Pension Fund v. Clayton B. Obersheimer, Inc., 2013 WL 594691 (D. Md. Feb. 13, 2013), a district court rejected plaintiffs’ contention that company officers were acting as ERISA fiduciaries in connection with the company’s delinquent contributions to a pension plan because they exercised discretionary control over the…