via bna.com,
by Kristen Ricaurte Knebel, Bloomberg BNA,
July 22, 2016,
An Ohio-based multiemployer bricklayers’ pension fund has become the latest fund to seek Treasury Department approval to reduce benefits.
The Bricklayers & Allied Craftsmen Local No. 7 Pension Plan, based in Austintown, filed an application on June 28 for benefit cuts under the 2014 law that opened the door to such moves, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act, according to Treasury’s website.
Under the MPRA, also known as the Kline-Miller Act, plan trustees must demonstrate to Treasury that proposed benefit cuts are necessary to prevent future insolvency. Treasury has considered several applications but has yet to approve one.
The pension fund didn’t submit a request to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to partition the plan. In a partition, the PBGC transfers some liabilities from a plan in danger of becoming insolvent to a new plan—and provides financial assistance to that plan—allowing financially healthy employers to maintain the original plan.