This interactive workshop will offer unionized employers the opportunity to learn innovative business planning strategies and aggressive negotiation techniques to address what is likely the most critical challenge facing their companies: multiemployer pension withdrawal liability. In addition, the substantial impact of the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (“MPRA”) will be discussed and analyzed.

Attendees will:

    Survey the significant challenges facing employers participating in multiemployer pension plans and the recent changes to the calculation of withdrawal liability encompassed within the MPRA

    Learn the basics of withdrawal liability, how it is triggered, and how it impacts employers today

    Discover how to analyze and track how withdrawal liability is calculated and assessed, and how the statutory caps and timing could work to an employer’s advantage

    Examine the critical issues that employers face in responding to an assessment of withdrawal liability

    Build strategies for assessing and minimizing withdrawal liability risks through collective bargaining and business planning 

In recent years, far too many pension funds have slipped into “critical” status, placing participating employers in the no-win situation of paying the exorbitant increases demanded by the funds or withdrawing and paying potentially massive withdrawal liability. As more and more multiemployer pension plans edge toward insolvency and the costs required to fund the benefits increase with no end in sight, the very future of your company may hang in the balance. In addition, the passage of the MPRA now allows plans in “critical and declining” status to cut benefits to employees and even retirees. The MPRA may also provide increased leverage for employers seeking to extricate themselves from the crushing weight of their pension obligations and furnish tools that resourceful employers may use to minimize their withdrawal liability.

Clearly, employers—especially those whose collective bargaining agreements are expiring—are at a critical juncture.

Join Epstein Becker Green as we discuss these issues in greater detail and present unique strategies to minimize your risks and save your business. Choose either Springfield or Chicago, the same great program will be offered in each location. Admission is complimentary, and lunch will be served.

9:00 a.m. – Registration

9:30 a.m.–Multiemployer Pension Withdrawal Liability – Basics

10:45 a.m. – Morning Break

11:00 a.m. – Withdrawal Liability – Risks, Strategies, and Business Planning

12:00 p.m. – Lunch & Questions

Who Should Attend

Business Owners

General Counsel

Chief Operating Officers

Chief Financial Officers

Human Resources Professionals

Registration and Lunch Are Complimentary.