Almacs, Inc. v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund

828 F. Supp. 131, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10977, 1993 WL 300229
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedAugust 6, 1993
DocketC.A. No. 92-0246L
StatusPublished

This text of 828 F. Supp. 131 (Almacs, Inc. v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Almacs, Inc. v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund, 828 F. Supp. 131, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10977, 1993 WL 300229 (D.R.I. 1993).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

LAGUEUX, Chief Judge.

This matter is before the Court on cross motions for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The parties have presented the case on stipulated facts. They agree that the sole issue before the Court is a purely legal question arising under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. (1988 & Supp.1992), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (“MPPAA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1381 et seq. (1988 & Supp.1992). Plaintiff, Almacs, Inc. (“Almacs”), claims that the withdrawal liability assessed against it by defendant, New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund (the “Fund”), is excessive as a matter of law. Specifically, Almacs argues that, in contravention of the MPPAA, the Fund included benefits attributable to “Past Service Credits” in its calculation of “nonforfeitable benefits.” The Fund, on the other hand, contends that benefits attributable to “Past Service Credits” are “nonforfeitable benefits” under the MPPAA and, thus, the Fund correctly calculated the withdrawal liability owed by Almacs.

BACKGROUND

The Fund is a multiemployer pension fund which administers the New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Plan (the “Plan”), a multiemployer pension plan, as defined by ERISA and the MPPAA. 29 U.S.C. §§ 1002(37)(A), 1301(a)(3). The Fund is regulated under the relevant provisions of ERISA 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq. Pursuant to collective bargaining agreements between the employers and participating New England Teamsters Locals, the Fund collects contributions from employers and provides benefits to the employees of these contributing employers.

For a number of years, Amacs contributed to the Fund on behalf of certain employees [132]*132who were covered by a collective bargaining agreement with a local union affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. In July 1989, Almaes withdrew from the Plan. The MPPAA requires employers withdrawing from multiemployer pension plans to pay the plan a sum known as withdrawal liability. 29 U.S.C. § 1381. The withdrawal liability essentially represents the withdrawing employer’s pro rata share of the pension plan’s “unfunded vested benefits.” 29 U.S.C. §§ 1381, 1391; see Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. R.A. Gray & Co., 467 U.S. 717, 725, 104 S.Ct. 2709, 2715, 81 L.Ed.2d 601 (1984); Debreceni v. Merchants Terminal Corp., 889 F.2d 1, 2 (1st Cir.1989). A plan’s “unfunded vested benefits” equals the excess of the present value of the plan’s “nonforfeitable benefits” over the current value of the plan’s assets. 29 U.S.C. § 1393(e); see R.A. Gray & Co., 467 U.S. at 725, 104 S.Ct. at 2715. For purposes of determining withdrawal liability, the plan’s “nonforfeitable benefits” are the benefits for which participants have met the conditions for entitlement, whether or not the benefits may subsequently be reduced or suspended due to a plan amendment, an occurrence of any condition, or operation of ERISA or the Internal Revenue Code. 29 U.S.C. § 1301(a)(8).

At issue in this case is the Fund’s inclusion of benefits attributable to “Past Service Credits” in its calculation of “nonforfeitable benefits.” For the most part, the Plan provides benefits to participants and their beneficiaries based on both the level of hourly contributions made by an employer on behalf of the participant and the number of years of pension credits the participant earned. The Plan uses the number of years of pension credits a participant earns to determine whether the participant is eligible for certain benefits under the Plan, such as regular pension benefits, reduced pension benefits, early retirement pension benefits, minimum thirty-year service pension benefits, and disability benefits. For some of these benefits, the number of years of pension credits also affects the level of benefits the participant or beneficiary receives.

Under the Plan, participants receive pension credits for their service to an employer during the years that the employer contributes to the Plan (“contribution period”), as well as for their service to the employer before the employer began contributing to the Plan. The Court will refer to the latter type of pension credits as “Past Service Credits.” Some participants rely, or will rely, on Past Service Credits to attain the minimum amount of pension credits required to qualify for the Plan’s pension benefits. For participants who are, or will be, eligible for benefits without including Past Service Credits, Past Service Credits may increase the level of their benefits. The Court will refer to the benefits and the increase in benefit level attributable to Past Service Credits as “Past Service Benefits.” The Plan permits participants to accumulate up to two years of Past Service Credits for each year of pension credits the participant earns during the contribution period. However, participants who have not attained age fifty-two and earned at least fifteen years of pension credits can lose all of their previously acquired pension credits if they incur a “break-in-service” by failing to complete the required minimum number of hours of service per year.

Importantly, the Plan also provides additional conditions under which a participant’s Past Service Credits may be cancelled. Under Section 2.07, Past Service Credits arising from service to a particular employer may be cancelled if the Fund Trustees terminate that employer’s participation in the Fund because the employer either failed to make required contributions or was no longer obligated under a collective bargaining agreement to contribute to the Plan. Specifically, Section 2.07(b)(1) provides:

If the Trustees terminate an Employer’s participation in this Fund ..., the Trustees may cancel that part of any pension for which a person was made eligible because of employment in [a] bargaining unit prior to the period for which the Employer had an obligation to contribute with respect to that unit and all Pension Credit which a person had accumulated for employment in such bargaining unit before the Employer had an obligation to contribute with respect to that unit....

[133]*133However, the Trustees may waive such cancellation of Past Service Benefits under certain circumstances. Specifically, Section 2.07(b)(2) states:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Turkette
452 U.S. 576 (Supreme Court, 1981)
Don Ray Smith v. Cmta-Iam Pension Trust
746 F.2d 587 (Ninth Circuit, 1984)
Hardeman v. Chrysler Credit Corp.
493 U.S. 848 (Supreme Court, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
828 F. Supp. 131, 1993 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10977, 1993 WL 300229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/almacs-inc-v-new-england-teamsters-trucking-industry-pension-fund-rid-1993.