Significant Multiemployer And Single Employer Benefit Rule Changes Take Effect

On December 16, 2014, President Obama signed into law the $1.1 trillion Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2015 (Appropriations Act), which includes some significant changes to the rules governing multiemployer pension plans, as well as a few changes affecting single employer pension plans. With respect to multiemployer plans, these changes were included in a division of the Appropriations Act called the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014, which, among other things, clarifies the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) funding rules applicable to multiemployer plans and also provides more troubled plans with new tools to avoid insolvency. While the most talked-about changes relate to plans in critical (the "red zone") or endangered (the "yellow zone") status, there are also a number of changes of which even well-funded multiemployer plans should be aware.