The Retail Clerks Specialty Stores Pension Plan, which covers 1,279 participants in the service industry, will receive roughly $60 million in SFA, including interest to the expected date of payment to the plan, according to a separate news release from the PBGC Tuesday. The Concord, California-based plan faced project insolvency in 2024, which would have reduced participants' benefits to roughly 15% below those payable under the plan.
With SFA, both plans will be able to pay benefits without reduction for many years into the future, the PBGC said. The SFA program was established as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, signed into law by President Joe Biden, and provides aid to severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans.
The PBGC will also provide about $280 million in supplemented SFA to the Western Pennsylvania Teamsters and Employers Pension Plan, which covers 21,110 participants in the transportation industry. The Pittsburgh-based plan previously received approval for $715 million in SFA in July 2022, a PBGC news release said.
"For decades, many Americans have worked toward the promise of a well-earned retirement after a lifetime of hard work," Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in the news release. "Thanks to President Biden's historic investment in America's workers and retirees, these workers will get the full benefits they have earned, allowing them to retire with the dignity they deserve."
As of Jan. 1, 2021, the Automotive Industries Pension Plan had a funding ratio of 33% with $3.6 billion in projected benefit obligations, according to the plan's most recent Form 5500 filing. The plan had $1.3 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2021, the filing showed.
As of Jan. 1, 2021, the Retail Clerks Specialty Stores Pension Plan had a funding ratio of 21% with $82 million in projected benefit obligations, according to the plan's most recent Form 5500 filing. The plan had $13 million in assets as of Dec. 31, 2021, the filing showed.
As of Jan. 1, 2021, the Western Pennsylvania Teamsters and Employers Pension Plan had a funding ratio of 26% with $2.4 billion in projected benefit obligations, according to the plan's most recent Form 5500 filing. The plan had $748 million in assets as of Dec. 31, 2021, the filing showed.
As of Tuesday, the PBGC has approved more than $51 billion in special financial assistance to plans that cover more than 712,000 workers, retirees and beneficiaries, the PBGC said.
