§1383 Complete withdrawal

Summary

Says when an employer is treated as fully leaving a multiemployer pension plan. An employer fully leaves the plan when it permanently stops having to pay into the plan or permanently stops all the work covered by the plan. For construction employers, a full leave only counts in a special way: if most of their workers are in construction and the plan mostly covers construction, then the employer only withdraws when it stops paying and either keeps doing the same kind of work in the same area or comes back to that work within 5 years and does not start paying again. If the plan ended because many employers left at once, that 5-year time becomes 3 years. For employers in entertainment (see below) the same special rule applies, but the rule looks to the plan area instead of the collective-bargaining area. For plans mostly made up of long- and short-haul trucking, household goods movers, or public warehousing employers, an employer withdraws when it stops paying or stops operations and either the federal agency finds the plan’s contribution base was hurt or the employer fails to give a bond or escrow equal to 50 percent of its withdrawal liability. If a bond or escrow is given but the agency later finds, within 60 months, that the plan was damaged, the bond or escrow goes to the plan and the employer is treated as having withdrawn on the original date. If the agency finds no damage (or cannot make a decision because of the 60-month limit), the employer has no further liability. The date of full withdrawal is the date the employer stops paying or stops covered operations. The federal agency may also allow other industries to use similar special rules, but only when the industry clearly fits and the agency finds no big risk. Entertainment industry: theater, motion pictures (with some regulatory exceptions), radio, television, sound or visual recording, music, dance, and other entertainment activities the agency decides are appropriate.