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Text: We first address the allegation in Spink's complaint that Lockheed and the board of directors breached their fiduciary duties when they adopted the amendments establishing the early retirement programs. Plan sponsors who alter the terms of a plan do not fall into the category of fiduciaries. As we said with respect to the amendment of welfare benefit plans in Curtiss-Wright Corp. v. Schoonejongen, 514 U. S. ___ (1995), "[e]mployers or other plan sponsors are generally free under ERISA, for any reason at any time, to adopt, modify, or terminate welfare plans." Id., at ___ (slip op., at 4) (citing Adams v. Avondale Industries, Inc., 905 F. 2d 943, 947 (CA6 1990)). When employers undertake those actions, they do not act as fiduciaries, 514 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at ___), but are analogous to the settlors of a trust, see Johnson v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 19 F. 3d 1184, 1188 (CA7 1994).

13
This rule is rooted in the text of ERISA's definition of fiduciary. See 29 U. S. C. Section(s) 1002(21)(A) (quoted n. 2, supra). As the Second Circuit has observed, "only when fulfilling certain defined functions, including the exercise of discretionary authority or control over plan management or administration," does a person become a fiduciary under Section(s) 3(21)(A). Siskind v. Sperry Retirement Program, Unisys, 47 F. 3d 498, 505 (1995). "[B]ecause [the] defined functions [in the definition of fiduciary] do not include plan design, an employer may decide to amend an employee benefit plan without being subject to fiduciary review." Ibid. We recently recognized this very point, noting that "it may be true that amending or terminating a plan . . . cannot be an act of plan `management' or `administration.'" Varity Corp. v. Howe, 516 U. S. __, __ (1995) (slip op., at 15). As noted above, we in fact said as much in Curtiss-Wright, see 514 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at ___), at least with respect to welfare benefit plans.

14
We see no reason why the rule of Curtiss-Wright should not be extended to pension benefit plans. Indeed, there are compelling reasons to apply the same rule to cases involving both kinds of plans, as most Circuit Courts have done.4 The definition of fiduciary makes no distinction between persons exercising authority over welfare benefit plans and those exercising authority over pension plans. It speaks simply of a "fiduciary with respect to a plan," 29 U. S. C. Section(s) 1002(21)(A), and of "management" and "administration" of "such plan," ibid. And ERISA defines a "plan" as being either a welfare or pension plan, or both. See Section(s) 1002(3). Likewise, the fiduciary duty provisions of ERISA are phrased in general terms and apply with equal force to welfare and pension plans. See, e.g., Section(s) 1104(a) (specifying duties of a "fiduciary . . . with respect to a plan"). See also Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U. S., at 91 (ERISA "sets various uniform standards, including rules concerning . . . fiduciary responsibility, for both pension and welfare plans"). Given ERISA's definition of fiduciary and the applicability of the duties that attend that status, we think that the rules regarding fiduciary capacity--including the settlor-fiduciary distinction--should apply to pension and welfare plans alike.

15
Lockheed acted not as a fiduciary but as a settlor when it amended the terms of the Plan to include the retirement programs. Thus, Section(s) 406(a)'s requirement of fiduciary status is not met. While other portions of ERISA govern plan amendments, see, e.g., 29 U. S. C. Section(s) 1054(g) (amendment generally may not decrease accrued benefits); Section(s) 1085b (if adoption of an amendment results in underfunding of a defined benefit plan, the sponsor must post security for the amount of the deficiency), the act of amending a pension plan does not trigger ERISA's fiduciary provisions.