It’s no secret that the statutory deck under ERISA is stacked heavily in favor of multiemployer pension plans (MEPPs) and against employers contributing to (or withdrawing from) Taft-Hartley trust funds. For example, an employer who receives a demand to pay its alleged allocable share of a multiemployer pension plan’s unfunded vested benefits (Withdrawal Liability) will generally only have 90 days to properly respond or be forever barred from raising any defenses except payment in full. The deadlines for initiating arbitration are even trickier. An employer must initiate arbitration on the earlier of: (1) 60 days after the date the plan responds to the employer’s request for a review; or (2) 180 days after the employer’s request for review. An unwary employer may miss the arbitration deadline by simply expecting the MEPP to respond to the request for review, which it has no obligation to do. More…
