I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2863 

To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 

to provide for treatment of certain deferred executive compensation arrangements which is comparable to certain funding-based limits on benefits and benefit accruals imposed on defined benefit pension plans under 

the Pension Protection Act of 2006. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 12, 2009 

Ms. WOOLSEY (for herself and Mr. BISHOP of New York) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to provide for treatment of certain 

deferred executive compensation arrangements which is 

comparable to certain funding-based limits on benefits 

and benefit accruals imposed on defined benefit pension 

plans under the Pension Protection Act of 2006. 

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 ‘‘Worker-Executive Par5 ity Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TREATMENT FOR COVERED DEFERRED EXECUTIVE 

2 COMPENSATION ARRANGEMENTS WHICH IS 

3 COMPARABLE TO CERTAIN FUNDING-BASED 

4 LIMITS ON BENEFITS AND BENEFIT ACCRU5 ALS IMPOSED ON DEFINED BENEFIT PEN6 SION PLANS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 206(g) of the Employee 

8 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

9 1056(g)) is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (9) and (10) 

11 as paragraphs (10) and (11), respectively; and 

12 (2) by inserting after paragraph (8) the fol13 lowing new paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(9) COMPARABLE TREATMENT FOR COVERED

15 DEFERRED EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION ARRANGE16 MENTS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In any case in which 

18 a limitation applies under paragraph (2), (3), 

19 or (4) for any plan year in the case of a defined 

20 benefit plan which is a single-employer plan— 

21 ‘‘(i) no amount of deferred compensa22 tion may accrue to a disqualified individual 

23 during such plan year under the terms of 

24 any covered deferred executive compensa25 tion arrangement maintained by the plan 

26 sponsor (irrespective of whether the acVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:20 Jun 13, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2863.IH H2863

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1 crual in deferred compensation is ex2 pressed in the form of a promise, a guar3 antee, or any other representation), and 

4 ‘‘(ii) in the case of such an arrange5 ment established during or after the 1-year 

6 period preceding such plan year (or any 

7 amendment to such an arrangement if 

8 such amendment is adopted during or after 

9 such 1-year period), no distribution of ac10 crued deferred compensation may be made 

11 under such arrangement (or such amend12 ment) to a disqualified individual during 

13 such plan year. 

14 ‘‘(B) COVERED DEFERRED EXECUTIVE

15 COMPENSATION ARRANGEMENT DEFINED.— 

16 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 

17 this paragraph, the term ‘covered deferred 

18 executive compensation arrangement’ 

19 means any arrangement providing for the 

20 deferral of compensation of a disqualified 

21 individual, whether or not— 

22 ‘‘(I) compensation of the dis23 qualified individual which is deferred 

24 under such arrangement is subject to 

25 substantial risk of forfeiture, 


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1 ‘‘(II) the disqualified individual’s 

2 rights to the compensation deferred 

3 under the arrangement are no greater 

4 than the rights of a general creditor 

5 of the plan sponsor, 

6 ‘‘(III) all amounts set aside (di7 rectly or indirectly) for purposes of 

8 paying the deferred compensation (in9 cluding income), and all income at10 tributable to such amounts, remain 

11 (until made available to the disquali12 fied individual or other beneficiary) 

13 solely the property of the plan sponsor 

14 (without being restricted to the provi15 sion of benefits under the arrange16 ment), 

17 ‘‘(IV) the amounts referred to in 

18 subclause (III) are available to satisfy 

19 the claims of the plan sponsor’s gen20 eral creditors at all times (not merely 

21 after bankruptcy or insolvency), and 

22 ‘‘(V) some or all of the com23 pensation of the disqualified individual 

24 which is deferred under such arrange25 ment is guaranteed by an insurance 


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1 company, insurance service, or other 

2 similar organization. 

3 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION FOR QUALIFIED AR4 RANGEMENTS.—Such term shall not in5 clude a arrangement that is— 

6 ‘‘(I) described in section 

7 219(g)(5)(A) of the Internal Revenue 

8 Code of 1986, or 

9 ‘‘(II) an eligible deferred com10 pensation plan (as defined in section 

11 457(b) of such Code) of an eligible 

12 employer described in section 

13 457(e)(1)(A) of such Code. 

14 ‘‘(C) DISQUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL DE15 FINED.—For purposes of this paragraph, the 

16 term ‘disqualified individual’ means a director 

17 or executive officer of the plan sponsor.’’. 

18 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

19 this section shall apply with respect to plan years begin20 ning on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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