Total Articles: 4
FASB Enhances Disclosure Requirements for Employers Participating in Multiemployer Plans
To increase transparency, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) has imposed new disclosure requirements on nongovernmental employers participating in multiemployer plans in its recently issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-09, Compensation — Retirement Benefits — Multiemployer Plans (Subtopic 715-80): Disclosures About an Employer’s Participation in a Multiemployer Plan (the “Update”). Public entities must comply with these new disclosure requirements for fiscal years ending after Dec. 15, 2011; nonpublic entities must comply for fiscal years ending after Dec. 15, 2012. Though not required, the FASB is permitting early application of the disclosure requirements if employers are willing and able to provide the required information before the applicable effective date.
Department of Labor Issues New Reporting Requirements for Multiemployer Plans.
In the March 2, 2010 Federal Register the Department of Labor issued a final rule requiring multiemployer plans to provide copies of certain actuarial and financial documents regarding the plan upon request. The requested documents must be furnished within 30 days of the date a written request is made by a plan participant, beneficiary, employee representative or contributing employer. Failure to timely provide the requested documents may result in a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per day late.
High Noon for Multiemployer Pension Plans.
Certain notice and funding provisions of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) became law January 1, 2008, and the first impact of these requirements is about to be felt. On or about March 30 most multiemployer pension plans will be sending status notices to employers and others. Many of these notices will contain bad news, although some will not. Here's what's going on in somewhat non-technical terms.
Practical Insights: Is Your Multi-Employer Pension Plan Threatening to Terminate Early Retirement Benefits For Your Employees If You Withdraw From the Plan?
Some union trustees of labor-management multi-employer pension plans (MEPS) that are greatly under-funded are using the Pension Protection Act of 2006, (PPA) to threaten not to pay plan participants early retirement benefits if their employers withdraw from the plan. In fact, one pension fund is saying that its trustees soon may adopt a rule that future retirees who last worked in a bargaining unit that voluntarily withdraws from the pension fund risk elimination or reduction of benefits payable prior to age 65.
