The question is how to calculate installments for an employer’s withdrawal liability when the company previously sold a piece of its business.
The Seventh Circuit agreed with a district court that applying ERISA’s payment-schedule Section 4219 does not require a pension fund to deduct the contribution units from Sold Stores under safe-harbor Section 4204. The text of the operative provision in payment-schedule Section 4219 prescribes a detailed calculation. That text does not reference safe-harbor Section 4204. Therefore, payment-schedule Section 4219 does not exclude the contribution base unit history for stores sold under safe-harbor Section 4204 (SuperValu, Inc. v. United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Employers Midwest Pension Fund, No. 24-2486 (7th Cir. Oct. 9, 2025)).
Asset sales. The employer, SuperValu, Inc., contributed to a multiemployer pension fund for over 10 years on behalf of employees covered under related collective bargaining agreements. In September 2018, SuperValu, a supermarket chain, sold some of its stores to Schnuck’s Markets. Five of the sold stores employed workers covered by the fund. That sale qualified under 29 U.S.C. § 1384, so-called safe-harbor Section 4204, which addresses asset sales. Thus, SuperValu did not incur withdrawal liability, even though it no longer contributed to the fund for the employees at these “Sold Stores.” Months later, SuperValu closed its remaining stores, completely withdrawing from the fund. This triggered...
In 1995, Princess Diana made broadcasting history and shaped the future of the Royal Family when she sat down with Martin Bashir for an episode of BBC's Panorama. Three decades on, the interview c...