Opinion ID: 2780763
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Unlawful Amendment

Text: Deppenbrook’s final argument is that the PBGC unlawfully amended his pension plan by requiring him to accept a distribution of his individual account (triggering an offsetting reduction in the payments to him under the defined benefit portion of the plan). Assuming arguendo that the PBGC in fact amended the plan, Deppenbrook cannot identify a statutory provision that bars the PBGC from doing so. He points to 29 U.S.C. § 1054(g), which says that a plan participant’s accrued benefit generally “may not be decreased by an amendment of the plan.” But see Hughes, 525 U.S. at 442 (“ERISA provides an employer with broad authority to amend a plan . . . .”). Yet the PBGC and the plan termination insurance program are addressed in an entirely different subchapter of ERISA. Compare 29 U.S.C. § 1054 (appearing in subchapter I of chapter 18), with id. § 1302 (appearing in subchapter III of chapter 18). ERISA makes clear that section 17 1054 applies if an employer—not the PBGC—retains control over a pension plan. See id. § 1003(a)(1) (“this subchapter,” i.e. § 1054 subchapter, applies to pension plans maintained by, inter alia, “any employer engaged in commerce or in any industry or activity affecting commerce” (emphasis added)). For the foregoing reasons, the district court’s judgment is affirmed. So ordered.