Cent. States, SE & SW Areas Pension Fund v. Allega Concrete Corp.

An employer that withdraws from an underfunded pension plan must cover its share of the shortfall, 29 U.S.C. 1381, 1391. After concluding that Allega had withdrawn, the Central States Pension Fund sent it a bill for about $375,000. The employer has 90 days to ask a pension plan to review its decision.. If the plan adheres to the original decision or does not act within 120 days, the employer has another 60 days to seek arbitration. For Allega, the last day was July 16, 2013. On July 9 Allega sent the Fund a letter demanding arbitration. It followed up on July 29 with a notice to the American Arbitration Association.: The AAA’s rules require that notices go to both the pension administrator and the AAA. The Fund has adopted those rules, but Allega did not notify the AAA within the statutory time limit. The district court concluded that Allega had waited too long to seek arbitration and must pay withdrawal liability as the Fund calculated it. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, rejecting an argument that the Fund’s failure to act within 120 days on a request for reconsideration tolled the time to seek arbitration. View "Cent. States, SE & SW Areas Pension Fund v. Allega Concrete Corp." on Justia Law