Opinion ID: 2973705
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: ERISA’s preemption framework

Text: ERISA, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001-1461, is a “comprehensive statute designed to promote the interests of employees and their beneficiaries in employee benefit plans.” Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U.S. 85, 90 (1983). The statute does not require employers to provide any particular benefits to their employees, but sets forth uniform, federal standards that control their administration. Id. at 91. The Supreme Court has frequently reviewed cases involving ERISA’s preemption of state laws due to the “comprehensive nature” of ERISA, “the centrality of pension and welfare plans in the national economy, and their importance to the financial security of the Nation’s work force.” Boggs v. Boggs, 520 U.S. 833, 839 (1997). In the present case, DaimlerChrysler argues that SCFRA is preempted by ERISA in two distinct ways. First, ERISA contains an anti-alienation provision that requires each pension plan to “provide that benefits provided under the plan may not be assigned or alienated.” 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(1). The Pension Plan, pursuant to this provision, prohibits any alienation, transfer, sale, or other encumbrance of plan benefits. Pension Plan § 14. If SCFRA effectuates an assignment or alienation in violation of 29 U.S.C. § 1056(d)(1), then ERISA preempts its application. See Branco v. UFCW-N. Cal. Employers Joint Pension Plan, 279 F.3d 1154, 1160 (9th Cir. 2002) (holding that the language of the court order that was before it “conflicts with ERISA’s anti-alienation provision and is therefore pre-empted”). The other ERISA provision relied on by DaimlerChrysler is found at 29 U.S.C. § 1144(a), which invalidates “any and all state laws insofar as they may now or hereafter relate to any employee benefit plan.”