• The D.C. Circuit’s July 2026 ruling in Trustees of the IAM National Pension Fund v. M&K Employee Solutions affirmed most of an $11.4 million withdrawal liability judgment against affiliated employee-leasing entities while reversing a $1.6 million delinquent contributions judgment because the pension fund failed to establish the full four-factor single-employer test beyond common ownership.
• Business owners participating in multiemployer pension plans face potential personal liability under the MPPAA’s controlled group provisions, though courts may exclude casual investment activity from the definition of a qualifying “trade or business,” and successor entities acquiring withdrawing employers’ operations may inherit withdrawal liability regardless of corporate restructuring.
• Employers withdrawing from multiemployer pension plans may want to carefully document applicable interest rates at the time of withdrawal, seek express written agreements on how partial payments will be allocated, and maintain genuine operational separateness among affiliated entities to reduce overall liability exposure and defend against single-employer claims.

Background

M&K Truck Centers operates twenty-eight truck dealerships through affiliated companies, each structured with a “Sales” entity to run the dealership and a separate “Employee Solutions” (ES) entity to hire workers and lease them back to the sales company. Three ES entities signed collective-bargaining agreements requiring...

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