M & K Employee Solutions, LLC, et al., Petitioners v. Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund

The Supreme Court issued a decision in a dispute over how the IAM National Pension Fund calculated the amount M & K Employee Solutions and related employers must pay to leave a multiemployer pension plan. The opinion addresses how funds may use long-term projections, including expected interest rates and other predictions, when setting withdrawal liability.

Withdrawal-liability bills can be very large, so the decision matters to employers that leave union pension plans and to the plans that rely on those payments. For example, a staffing company or trucking company may use this ruling to judge the cost of exiting a plan or challenging a bill.

Lower courts and arbitrators handling similar ERISA disputes will now apply the Supreme Court's framework. Employers and multiemployer pension funds will likely review pending cases, past calculations, and future withdrawal-liability assessments.

The parties disputed whether the pension fund used the correct method to calculate what the employers owed after leaving the plan.

Employers leaving multiemployer pension plans and the plans' retirees are both affected. The ruling can change the size and predictability of withdrawal-liability bills.

Lower courts and arbitrators will use the Court's guidance in similar disputes. Employers and pension funds will likely reassess calculations, settlements, and ongoing challenges.