August 11, 2021

SWACCA joined its allies in the Construction Employers of America (CEA) to submit comments on the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) interim final rule (IFR) for the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) program and provide insight on the impact this rule would have on contractors who are signatory to construction industry collectively bargained multiemployer plans.

In the letter, CEA urges the PBGC to provide trustees flexibility to address the needs of plans and to carefully weigh the impact of the rules on all plan participants—both retirees and active participants. Specifically, CEA requests that the PBGC not unduly limit the flexibility and options available to plan trustees to address plan deficiencies and solvency. The letter also urges the PBGC to reconsider the IFR’s interpretation limiting the SFA to the amount necessary to forestall plan insolvency only through 2051. CEA states that this approach will impact the long-term ability of plans to remain solvent and impact the multiemployer pension system as a whole. Finally, the letter urges the PBGC to provide additional clarity and guidance on the merging of SFA-eligible plans into healthier non-SFA plans, noting that additional guidance on how the SFA requirements and conditions will apply to the non-SFA plans post-merger would be particularly helpful.

The letter can be accessed in its entirety here.

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