PBGC Asks Permission to Keep Collecting Information on Plan Terminations

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve a collection of information under its regulations on the disclosure of termination information for distress terminations, and for PBGC-initiated terminations of defined benefit (DB) plans.

As background, Sections 4041 and 4042 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) govern the termination of single-employer defined benefit pension plans that are subject to Title IV of ERISA. A plan administrator may initiate a distress termination undersection 4041(c), and the PBGC may itself initiate proceedings to terminate a pension plan under section 4042 if PBGC determines that certain conditions are present. 

Sections 4041 and 4042 of ERISA were amended by Section 506 of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) to require that, upon a request by an affected party, a plan administrator must disclose information it has submitted to the PBGC in connection with a distress termination filing, and a plan administrator or plan sponsor must disclose information it has submitted to the PBGC in connection with a PBGC-initiated termination. 

The PBGC is also required to disclose the administrative record relating to a PBGC-initiated termination upon request by an affected party.

This collection of information was most recently approved by OMB, and the PBGC is requesting that OMB approve the collection of information for three years, without change.