SWACCA Sends Letter Calling on Congress to Address COBRA and Multiemployer Pension Reform in Next Coronavirus Response Package
The Signatory Wall and Ceiling Contractors Association (SWACCA) submitted a letter today to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA), and House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA) outlining critical priorities SWACCA believes should be addressed in the next round of coronavirus response legislation. First, SWACCA is urging Congress to address the urgent crisis facing multiemployer pension plans. In particular, SWACCA is pressing Congress to: (1) provide direct funding to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to avert plan failures; (2) allow actuarial smoothing so plans can better weather the unprecedented global health crisis; and (3) authorize a new hybrid plan design, known as composite plans, which are better structured to withstand future market downturns and simultaneously protect both employers and participants. Authorizing composite plans is critical to ensuring the long-term viability of high-road employers that provide family-sustaining wages and benefits.
Second, SWACCA requested that the House ensure that workers do not lose access to their health insurance if they are laid off or furloughed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, SWACCA is urging Congress to enact legislation to provide funding for the full cost of COBRA health insurance premiums and provide plans with reinsurance for pandemic-related medical and prescription drug costs.
You can read the letter here.
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