I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1856 

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the 

National Labor Relations Act to protect the health benefits of retirees, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 16, 2015 

Ms. SLAUGHTER (for herself and Mr. JONES) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

of 1974 and the National Labor Relations Act to protect 

the health benefits of retirees, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Employee Benefits 

5 Protection Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION OF EXTENT TO WHICH HEALTH BEN7 EFITS CAN BE MODIFIED OR TERMINATED. 

8 (a) INCLUSION IN SUMMARY PLAN DESCRIPTION.— 

9 Section 102(b) of the Employee Retirement Income SecuVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:46 Apr 25, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1856.IH H1856

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1 rity Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1022) is amended by inserting 

2 ‘‘; in the case of a group health plan (as so defined), 

3 whether the provisions of the plan permit the plan sponsor 

4 or any employer participating in the plan to unilaterally 

5 modify or terminate the benefits under the plan with re6 spect to employees, retired employees, and beneficiaries, 

7 and when and to what extent benefits under the plan are 

8 fully vested with respect to employees, retired employees, 

9 and beneficiaries’’ after ‘‘the name and address of such 

10 issuer’’. 

11 (b) PRESUMPTION THAT RETIRED EMPLOYEE

12 HEALTH BENEFITS CANNOT BE MODIFIED OR TERMI13 NATED.—Section 502 of the Employee Retirement Income 

14 Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is amended by 

15 adding at the end the following new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(n) In the case of a suit brought under this title 

17 by a participant or beneficiary relating to benefits of a 

18 retired employee or the dependents of a retired employee 

19 under a group health plan (as defined in section 

20 733(a)(1)), the presumption for purposes of such suit 

21 shall be that as of the date an employee retires or com22 pletes 20 years of service with the employer, benefits avail23 able under the plan during retirement of the employee are 

24 fully vested and cannot be modified or terminated for the 

25 life of the employee or, if longer, the life of the employee’s 


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1 spouse. This presumption can be overcome only upon a 

2 showing, by clear and convincing evidence, that the terms 

3 of the group health plan allow for a modification or termi4 nation of benefits available under the plan and that the 

5 employee, prior to becoming a participant in the plan, was 

6 made aware, in clear and unambiguous terms, that the 

7 plan allowed for such modification or termination of bene8 fits.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF RETIREES UNDER CERTAIN COL10 LECTIVELY BARGAINED AGREEMENTS. 

11 Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 

12 U.S.C. 158) is amended by adding at the end the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(h) It shall be an unfair labor practice for any labor 

15 organization and any employer to enter into any contract 

16 or agreement, express or implied, whereby the organiza17 tion and employer agree to modify the terms of any pre18 vious agreement in a manner that would result in a reduc19 tion or termination of retiree health insurance benefits 

20 provided to an employee or a dependent of an employee 

21 under the previous agreement, if such modification of the 

22 terms of the previous agreement occurs after the date on 

23 which the employee retires.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

3 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 

4 of the United States shall submit to Congress a report 

5 on the strategies that corporations use to avoid obligations 

6 to pay promised employee and retiree benefits. 

7 (b) CONTENTS.—The report under subsection (a) 

8 shall include a discussion of— 

9 (1) the use of spin-offs, mergers, subsidiaries, 

10 bankruptcies, asset sales, and other strategies to 

11 avoid obligations to pay promised employee and re12 tiree benefits; 

13 (2) the impact of such avoidance on the finan14 cial, physical, and mental well-being of employees 

15 and retirees; 

16 (3) the impact on Federal and State budgets 

17 when employers terminate or reduce the benefits of 

18 employees and retirees, including the costs that are 

19 incurred when employees and retirees seek assist20 ance from Federal and State government programs 

21 and services as a result of the termination or reduc22 tion of their employment-related benefits; and 

23 (4) recommendations to prevent corporations 

24 from evading contractual obligations to pay em25 ployee and retiree benefits. 

Æ 


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