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ARTICLE · 18 JUNE 2014

Could Recent Developments In The UK High Court Affect Irish Pension Schemes?

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Two High Court cases in the UK could be of significance to both sponsoring employers and trustees in the context of amending and restructuring pension schemes.

IrelandEmployment and HR
Deirdre Cummins
Deirdre Cummins
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Two recent High Court cases in the UK could be of significance to both sponsoring employers and trustees in the context of amending and restructuring pension schemes. While these decisions are of persuasive authority only, and therefore not binding in Irish law, trustees, sponsoring employers and indeed their advisers would be well advised to be aware of these judicial developments.

IBM UK Holdings & another v Dalgleish and Ors1

In this case the UK High Court found IBM to be in breach of both its implied contractual duty of mutual trust and confidence and its Imperial2 duty of good faith to its employees for the manner in which it implemented the closure of its defined benefit pension schemes and imposed a new early retirement policy. This is the first time an employer has been found to be in breach of these duties to its employees in the context of a pension scheme closure.

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