The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. approved a special financial assistance application totaling about $7 million to aid a Dayton, Ohio-based roofers union pension plan, the agency announced Dec. 23.
International Association of United Slate, Tile and Composition Roofers, Damp and Waterproof Workers Roofers Local No. 75 Pension Plan will receive $6.8 million.
The American Rescue Act of 2021 created the Special Financial Assistance Program in order to aid multiemployer plans facing financial hardship.
The roofers pension plan covers 275 participants in the construction industry, according to a PBGC news release. The plan was projected to hit insolvency in 2039 and would have had to reduce participants’ benefits upon insolvency to the PBGC guarantee level, or roughly 15% below the benefits payable under the terms of the plan, according to the plan’s Oct. 4 SFA application.
The special financial assistance allows both plans to pay full retirement benefits without reduction for many years into the future, according to the PBGC.
International Association of United Slate, Tile and Composition Roofers, Damp and Waterproof Workers Roofers Local No. 75 Pension Plan had a funding ratio of 28.8% with $30.6 million in projected benefit obligations, according to the plan's application. The plan had $8.8 million in assets, the application showed.
As of Dec. 23, the PBGC has approved about $69.8 billion in SFA to pension plans covering 1,233,000 retirees, workers and beneficiaries, the agency said.
