29 U.S.C. § 1322a : US Code - Section 1322A: Multiemployer plan benefits guaranteed

Search 29 U.S.C. § 1322a : US Code - Section 1322A: Multiemployer plan benefits guaranteed

(a) Benefits of covered plans subject to guarantee
The corporation shall guarantee, in accordance with this section,
the payment of all nonforfeitable benefits (other than benefits
becoming nonforfeitable solely on account of the termination of a
plan) under a multiemployer plan -
(1) to which this subchapter applies, and
(2) which is insolvent under section 1426(b) or 1441(d)(2) of
this title.
(b) Benefits or benefit increases not eligible for guarantee
(1)(A) For purposes of this section, a benefit or benefit
increase which has been in effect under a plan for less than 60
months is not eligible for the corporation's guarantee. For
purposes of this paragraph, any month of any plan year during which
the plan was insolvent or terminated (within the meaning of section
1341a(a)(2) of this title) shall not be taken into account.
(B) For purposes of this section, a benefit or benefit increase
which has been in effect under a plan for less than 60 months
before the first day of the plan year for which an amendment
reducing the benefit or the benefit increase is taken into account
under section 1425(a)(2) of this title in determining the minimum
contribution requirement for the plan year under section 1423(b) of
this title is not eligible for the corporation's guarantee.
(2) For purposes of this section -
(A) the date on which a benefit or a benefit increase under a
plan is first in effect is the later of -
(i) the date on which the documents establishing or
increasing the benefit were executed, or
(ii) the effective date of the benefit or benefit increase;
(B) the period of time for which a benefit or a benefit
increase has been in effect under a successor plan includes the
period of time for which the benefit or benefit increase was in
effect under a previously established plan; and
(C) in the case of a plan to which section 1321 of this title
did not apply on September 3, 1974, the time periods referred to
in this section are computed beginning on the date on which
section 1321 of this title first applies to the plan.
(c) Determinations respecting amount of guarantee
(1) Except as provided in subsection (g) of this section, the
monthly benefit of a participant or a beneficiary which is
guaranteed under this section by the corporation with respect to a
plan is the product of -
(A) 100 percent of the accrual rate up to $11, plus 75 percent
of the lesser of -
(i) $33, or
(ii) the accrual rate, if any, in excess of $11, and
(B) the number of the participant's years of credited service.
(2) For purposes of this section, the accrual rate is -
(A) the monthly benefit of the participant or beneficiary which
is described in subsection (a) of this section and which is
eligible for the corporation's guarantee under subsection (b) of
this section, except that such benefit shall be -
(i) no greater than the monthly benefit which would be
payable under the plan at normal retirement age in the form of
a single life annuity, and
(ii) determined without regard to any reduction under section
411(a)(3)(E) of title 26; divided by
(B) the participant's years of credited service.
(3) For purposes of this subsection -
(A) a year of credited service is a year in which the
participant completed -
(i) a full year of participation in the plan, or
(ii) any period of service before participation which is
credited for purposes of benefit accrual as the equivalent of a
full year of participation;
(B) any year for which the participant is credited for purposes
of benefit accrual with a fraction of the equivalent of a full
year of participation shall be counted as such a fraction of a
year of credited service; and
(C) years of credited service shall be determined by including
service which may otherwise be disregarded by the plan under
section 411(a)(3)(E) of title 26.
(d) Amount of guarantee of reduced benefit
In the case of a benefit which has been reduced under section
411(a)(3)(E) of title 26, the corporation shall guarantee the
lesser of -
(1) the reduced benefit, or
(2) the amount determined under subsection (c) of this section.
(e) Ineligibility of benefits for guarantee
The corporation shall not guarantee benefits under a
multiemployer plan which, under section 1322(b)(6) of this title,
would not be guaranteed under a single-employer plan.
(f) Study, report, etc., respecting premium increase in existing
basic-benefit guarantee levels; Congressional procedures
applicable for revision of schedules
(1) No later than 5 years after September 26, 1980, and at least
every fifth year thereafter, the corporation shall -
(A) conduct a study to determine -
(i) the premiums needed to maintain the basic-benefit
guarantee levels for multiemployer plans described in
subsection (c) of this section, and
(ii) whether the basic-benefit guarantee levels for
multiemployer plans may be increased without increasing the
basic-benefit premiums for multiemployer plans under this
subchapter; and
(B) report such determinations to the Committee on Ways and
Means and the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of
Representatives and to the Committee on Finance and the Committee
on Labor and Human Resources of the Senate.
(2)(A) If the last report described in paragraph (1) indicates
that a premium increase is necessary to support the existing basic-
benefit guarantee levels for multiemployer plans, the corporation
shall transmit to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee
on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives and to the
Committee on Finance and the Committee on Labor and Human Resources
of the Senate by March 31 of any calendar year in which
congressional action under this subsection is requested -
(i) a revised schedule of basic-benefit guarantees for
multiemployer plans which would be necessary in the absence of an
increase in premiums approved in accordance with section 1306(b)
of this title,
(ii) a revised schedule of basic-benefit premiums for
multiemployer plans which is necessary to support the existing
basic-benefit guarantees for such plans, and
(iii) a revised schedule of basic-benefit guarantees for
multiemployer plans for which the schedule of premiums necessary
is higher than the existing premium schedule for such plans but
lower than the revised schedule of premiums for such plans
specified in clause (ii), together with such schedule of
premiums.
(B) The revised schedule of increased premiums referred to in
subparagraph (A)(ii) or (A)(iii) shall go into effect as approved
by the enactment of a joint resolution.
(C) If an increase in premiums is not so enacted, the revised
guarantee schedule described in subparagraph (A)(i) shall go into
effect on the first day of the second calendar year following the
year in which such revised guarantee schedule was submitted to the
Congress.
(3)(A) If the last report described in paragraph (1) indicates
that basic-benefit guarantees for multiemployer plans can be
increased without increasing the basic-benefit premiums for
multiemployer plans under this subchapter, the corporation shall
submit to the Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on
Education and Labor of the House of Representatives and to the
Committee on Finance and the Committee on Labor and Human Resources
of the Senate by March 31 of the calendar year in which
congressional action under this paragraph is requested -
(i) a revised schedule of increases in the basic-benefit
guarantees which can be supported by the existing schedule of
basic-benefit premiums for multiemployer plans, and
(ii) a revised schedule of basic-benefit premiums sufficient to
support the existing basic-benefit guarantees.
(B) The revised schedules referred to in subparagraph (A)(i) or
subparagraph (A)(ii) shall go into effect as approved by the
enactment of a joint resolution.
(4)(A) The succeeding subparagraphs of this paragraph are enacted
by the Congress as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the
Senate and the House of Representatives, respectively, and as such
they shall be deemed a part of the rules of each House,
respectively, but applicable only with respect to the procedure to
be followed in that House in the case of joint resolutions (as
defined in subparagraph (B)). Such subparagraphs shall supersede
other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent
therewith. They are enacted with full recognition of the
constitutional right of either House to change the rules (so far as
relating to the procedure of that House) at any time, in the same
manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any rule of that
House.
(B) For purposes of this subsection, "joint resolution" means
only a joint resolution, the matter after the resolving clause of
which is as follows: "The proposed schedule described in
transmitted to the Congress by the Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation on is hereby approved.", the first blank space
therein being filled with "section 4022A(f)(2)(A)(ii) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974", "section
4022A(f)(2)(A)(iii) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act
of 1974", "section 4022A(f)(3)(A)(i) of the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act of 1974", or "section 4022A(f)(3)(A)(ii) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974" (whichever is
applicable), and the second blank space therein being filled with
the date on which the corporation's message proposing the revision
was submitted.
(C) The procedure for disposition of a joint resolution shall be
the procedure described in section 1306(b)(4) through (7) of this
title.
(g) Guarantee of payment of other classes of benefits and
establishment of terms and conditions of guarantee; promulgation
of regulations for establishment of supplemental program to
guarantee benefits otherwise ineligible; status of benefits;
applicability of revised schedule of premiums
(1) The corporation may guarantee the payment of such other
classes of benefits under multiemployer plans, and establish the
terms and conditions under which those other classes of benefits
are guaranteed, as it determines to be appropriate.
(2)(A) The corporation shall prescribe regulations to establish a
supplemental program to guarantee benefits under multiemployer
plans which would be guaranteed under this section but for the
limitations in subsection (c) of this section. Such regulations
shall be proposed by the corporation no later than the end of the
18th calendar month following September 26, 1980. The regulations
shall make coverage under the supplemental program available no
later than January 1, 1983. Any election to participate in the
supplemental program shall be on a voluntary basis, and a plan
electing such coverage shall continue to pay the premiums required
under section 1306(a)(2)(B) of this title to the revolving fund
used pursuant to section 1305 of this title in connection with
benefits otherwise guaranteed under this section. Any such election
shall be irrevocable, except to the extent otherwise provided by
regulations prescribed by the corporation.
(B) The regulations prescribed under this paragraph shall provide
-
(i) that a plan must elect coverage under the supplemental
program within the time permitted by the regulations;
(ii) unless the corporation determines otherwise, that a plan
may not elect supplemental coverage unless the value of the
assets of the plan as of the end of the plan year preceding the
plan year in which the election must be made is an amount equal
to 15 times the total amount of the benefit payments made under
the plan for that year; and
(iii) such other reasonable terms and conditions for
supplemental coverage, including funding standards and any other
reasonable limitations with respect to plans or benefits covered
or to means of program financing, as the corporation determines
are necessary and appropriate for a feasible supplemental program
consistent with the purposes of this subchapter.
(3) Any benefits guaranteed under this subsection shall be
considered nonbasic benefits for purposes of this subchapter.
(4)(A) No revised schedule of premiums under this subsection,
after the initial schedule, shall go into effect unless -
(i) the revised schedule is submitted to the Congress, and
(ii) a joint resolution described in subparagraph (B) is not
enacted before the close of the 60th legislative day after such
schedule is submitted to the Congress.
(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A), a joint resolution
described in this subparagraph is a joint resolution the matter
after the resolving clause of which is as follows: "The revised
premium schedule transmitted to the Congress by the Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation under section 4022A(g)(4) of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 on is hereby
disapproved.", the blank space therein being filled with the date
on which the revised schedule was submitted.
(C) For purposes of subparagraph (A), the term "legislative day"
means any calendar day other than a day on which either House is
not in session because of a sine die adjournment or an adjournment
of more than 3 days to a day certain.
(D) The procedure for disposition of a joint resolution described
in subparagraph (B) shall be the procedure described in paragraphs
(4) through (7) of section 1306(b) of this title.
(5) Regulations prescribed by the corporation to carry out the
provisions of this subsection, may, to the extent provided therein,
supersede the requirements of sections 1426, 1431, and 1441 of this
title, and the requirements of section 418E of title 26, but only
with respect to benefits guaranteed under this subsection.
(h) Applicability to nonforfeitable benefits accrued as of July 30,
1980; manner and extent of guarantee
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (3), subsections (b) and (c)
of this section shall not apply with respect to the nonforfeitable
benefits accrued as of July 29, 1980, with respect to a participant
or beneficiary under a multiemployer plan -
(1) who is in pay status on July 29, 1980, or
(2) who is within 36 months of the normal retirement age and
has a nonforfeitable right to a pension as of that date.
(2) The benefits described in paragraph (1) shall be guaranteed
by the corporation in the same manner and to the same extent as
benefits are guaranteed by the corporation under section 1322 of
this title (without regard to this section).
(3) This subsection does not apply with respect to a plan for
plan years following a plan year -
(A) in which the plan has terminated within the meaning of
section 1341a(a)(2) of this title, or
(B) in which it is determined by the corporation that
substantially all the employers have withdrawn from the plan
pursuant to an agreement or arrangement to withdraw.