Church Plan Case Reaches Settlement

The settlement agreement provides for the retirement plan sponsor to offer ERISA-like protections for its church plan.

A federal district court judge has preliminarily approved a settlement in one of the cases challenging a retirement plan’s church plan status.

Last May, U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan found the retirement plans of Ascension Health Alliance entities qualify for “church plan” status under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The ruling is one of three handed down so far that say a plan need not be established by a church in order to qualify as a church plan. So far, courts are split in their decisions about church plan cases (see “Courts Split on Definition of Church Plan”).

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The key concept of the settlement agreement is that the participants in the plans will receive certain Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)-like protections for the next seven and one-half years, the agreement says. Barring a significant change in the law, the plans will remain non-ERISA plans, but Ascension itself will guarantee participants will receive from their plans the level of benefits stated in the plans through June 30, 2022.

The settlement includes provisions that mimic the provisions of ERISA, concerning plan administration, summary plan descriptions, notices (annual summaries, pension benefits statements, current benefit values), and the plans’ claim review procedure. Ascension has also agreed to contribute $8 million to the plans.

The settlement calls for the release of claims by lead plaintiff Marilyn Overall based upon allegations in the lawsuit. However, noting that the law on church plans is still in flux, the settlement agreement provides that Ascension will not be released prospectively in the event of a change in the law which makes clear that the Ascension plans are not church plans, and the release will not apply prospectively in the event the structure of the Ascension plans changes so that the plans are plainly not church plans.

A hearing for final approval for the settlement agreement is set for September. The motion for approving the settlement in Overall v. Ascension Health is here.

A Little Friday File Fun

In Bakersfield, California, a woman has filed a lawsuit against her former employer, claiming she was fired for disabling an app that tracked her 24/7. The former sales executive for money transfer service Intermex claims that her boss fired her shortly after she uninstalled the job-management Xora app that she and her colleagues were required to use on their company-issued iPhones, arstechnica.com reports. According to the lawsuit, the woman and her co-workers asked whether Intermex would be monitoring their movements while off duty. The boss admitted that employees would be monitored while off duty and bragged that he knew how fast the woman was driving at specific moments ever since she installed the app on her phone. The woman likened the app to a prisoner’s ankle bracelet and informed her boss that his actions were illegal, to which he replied that she should tolerate the illegal intrusion.                

In Mount Morris, New York, owners of Build-A-Burger told the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office that their surveillance system and cash register had been stolen early one morning. Deputies checked out a nearby hiking and biking path, where they found cash register parts, surveillance system parts, rubber gloves, loose change and “a steady trail of macaroni salad,” the Associated Press reports. Police say they later learned that three men had stolen a large bowl of the salad and took turns eating it while making their getaway.

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In Beaver, West Virginia, a 43-year-old man went into a pharmacy wearing full camouflage and a paintball mask. The Associated Press reports that the would-be robber started spraying pepper spray in an effort to take down employees, but walked into the cloud of pepper spray in front of him. He staggered out of the business and got into a vehicle. Police investigating the incident discovered the name of the man who was driving the vehicle, and the driver identified the suspect.

In Coventry, Vermont, the latest Mother of the Year award contender—NOT!—has been charged with reckless endangerment and child endangerment. A concerned citizen showed police video of a Subaru station wagon driven by a man, with a woman and 5-year-old child on top. WCAX News reports that police say the car reached speeds of 50 to 55 mph during the two-mile ride. The child has been taken into protective custody.

In Xuzhou City, in east China’s Jiangsu Province, a 74-year-old man swears his cat gave birth to a Chihuahua. He says he took the cat to his friend’s house personally for her to mate, the UK’s Metro reports. She was put in a cage with a male cat for two days. But, he says he is certain he hand-delivered a Chihuahua. “This is very confusing. I hope the media reports this and we get some sort of explanation from a scientist,” he said, according to the news report.


cat births chihuahua

One of the potential hazards of living to see your 102nd birthday.

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Whether they like the house or not, potential home buyers won’t forget this house tour.

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This is how your tooth gets pulled when your father is an Olympian javelin thrower.

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