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
Withdrawal Liability
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…
District Court Interprets Multiemployer Plan Fee-Shifting Provision to Encompass Attorneys’ Fees and Costs Incurred in Related Litigation
By Neil V. Shah & Anastasia Gellman on
A multiemployer plan that prevails in an action to collect delinquent contributions or withdrawal liability is statutorily entitled to recover reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs “of the action.” In International Painters & Allied Trades Industry Pension Fund v. Florida Glass of Tampa Bay, Inc., No. 23-cv-00045, 2025 WL 712965 (D. Md. Mar. 5, 2025)…