The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and Single-Employer Plan Terminations

Publication Date: March 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Research Area: Labor

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Abstract:

Recent high-profile terminations of defined benefit pension plans have focused attention on the process for terminating plans and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) regulates plan terminations. It provides for three types of single-employer plan terminations -- standard, distress, and involuntary -- and imposes different responsibilities on the PBGC for each type. This report discusses ERISA's procedures for terminating single-employer plans and the PBGC's role in such terminations.