Opinion ID: 2246809
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: ERISA's Declarations and Its Legislative History

Text: We think that both the words of the statute and the legislative history demonstrate Congressional intent to assure only that funds promised retirees by their private employers actually reach the retirees without being dissipated or diverted before they ever leave the hands of the plan's trustee. We turn first to the Congressional findings and declaration of policy section of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. § 1001 (1988). Subsection (a) points out the extensive problems existing in private pension programs and states that the Act is intended to promote the setting of minimum standards ... assuring the equitable character of such [pension] plans and their financial soundness. 29 U.S.C. § 1001(a). Subsections (b) and (c) summarize areas in which the standards will be set  disclosure and reporting, vesting of accrued benefits, funding, termination insurance, and standards of conduct, responsibility, and obligation for fiduciaries. 29 U.S.C. § 1001(b)-(c). The obvious focus of these declarations is protection of plan integrity. The legislative history also emphasizes preserving the integrity of private pension plans. The report of the House Education and Labor Committee states that the primary purpose of the bill is the protection of individual pension rights. H.R.Rep. No. 533, 93d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in 1974 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 4639, 4639. The report demonstrates that the pension rights are to be protected through regulation of the plans: In broad outline, the bill is designed to: (1) establish equitable standards of plan administration; (2) mandate minimum standards of plan design with respect to the vesting of plan benefits; (3) require minimum standards of fiscal responsibility by requiring the amortization of unfunded liabilities; (4) insure the vested portion of unfunded liabilities against the risk of premature plan termination; and (5) promote a renewed expansion of private retirement plans and increase the number of participants receiving private retirement benefits. Id. at 4640. The report of the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare parallels the House report, describing the provisions and purposes of ERISA as follows: The provisions of [ERISA] are addressed to the issue of whether American working men and women shall receive private pension plan benefits which they have been led to believe would be theirs upon retirement from working lives. It responds by mandating protective measures, and prescribing minimum standards for promised benefits. The purpose of [ERISA] is to prescribe legislative remedies for the various deficiencies existing in the private pension plan systems which have been determined by the Senate Subcommittee's comprehensive study of such plans. S.Rep. No. 127, 93d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in, 1974 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News 4838, 4838. The legislative history specifically describing § 1056(d)(1) follows the same theme. It focuses on protecting the pension funds in the plans to ensure their actual availability for distribution: To further ensure that the employee's accrued benefits are actually available for retirement purposes, the committee bill also contains a provision requiring the plan to provide that benefits may not be assigned or alienated. H.R.Rep. No. 807, 93d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in 1974 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News 4670, 4734 (emphasis added).