Title: Employee Benefits Protection Act of 2017
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Employee Benefits Protection Act of 2017
This bill amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require the mandatory summary description of a group health plan to specify: (1) whether the plan permits either the plan sponsor or any participating employer to unilaterally modify or terminate plan benefits affecting employees, retirees, and beneficiaries; and (2) when and to what extent plan benefits are fully vested with respect to these individuals.
In law suits involving group health plan benefits, a presumption is established that as of the date an employee retires or completes 20 years of service with the employer, retiree health benefits are fully vested and cannot be modified or terminated. This presumption may be overcome only upon a showing that the employee, before becoming a plan participant, was made aware that the plan allowed for a modification or termination of benefits.
The bill amends the National Labor Relations Act to make it an unfair labor practice for a labor organization and any employer to enter into an agreement to modify a previous agreement in a manner that results in a reduction or termination of retiree health insurance benefits, if the modification occurs after the retiree's retirement date.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2578 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2578

 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

                              May 19, 2017

  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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Employee Benefits Protection Act of 
2017''.

SEC. 2. NOTIFICATION OF EXTENT TO WHICH HEALTH BENEFITS CAN BE MODIFIED 
              OR TERMINATED.

    (a) Inclusion in Summary Plan Description.--Section 102(b) of the 
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1022) is 
amended by inserting ``; in the case of a group health plan (as so 
defined), whether the provisions of the plan permit the plan sponsor or 
any employer participating in the plan to unilaterally modify or 
terminate the benefits under the plan with respect to employees, 
retired employees, and beneficiaries, and when and to what extent 
benefits under the plan are fully vested with respect to employees, 
retired employees, and beneficiaries'' after ``the name and address of 
such issuer''.
    (b) Presumption That Retired Employee Health Benefits Cannot Be 
Modified or Terminated.--Section 502 of the Employee Retirement Income 
Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1132) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection:
    ``(n) In the case of a suit brought under this title by a 
participant or beneficiary relating to benefits of a retired employee 
or the dependents of a retired employee under a group health plan (as 
defined in section 733(a)(1)), the presumption for purposes of such 
suit shall be that as of the date an employee retires or completes 20 
years of service with the employer, benefits available under the plan 
during retirement of the employee are fully vested and cannot be 
modified or terminated for the life of the employee or, if longer, the 
life of the employee's spouse. This presumption can be overcome only 
upon a showing, by clear and convincing evidence, that the terms of the 
group health plan allow for a modification or termination of benefits 
available under the plan and that the employee, prior to becoming a 
participant in the plan, was made aware, in clear and unambiguous 
terms, that the plan allowed for such modification or termination of 
benefits.''.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF RETIREES UNDER CERTAIN COLLECTIVELY BARGAINED 
              AGREEMENTS.

    Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) It shall be an unfair labor practice for any labor 
organization and any employer to enter into any contract or agreement, 
express or implied, whereby the organization and employer agree to 
modify the terms of any previous agreement in a manner that would 
result in a reduction or termination of retiree health insurance 
benefits provided to an employee or a dependent of an employee under 
the previous agreement, if such modification of the terms of the 
previous agreement occurs after the date on which the employee 
retires.''.
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