Opinion ID: 185099
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jurisdiction based upon Window Program

Text: 12 ERISA does not specify what constitutes a plan within the meaning of the statute. The Supreme Court, however, has made clear that not every grant of an employee benefit is governed by ERISA. The Court noted that the statute's focus was on the administrative integrity of benefit plans-which presumes that some type of administrative activity is taking place, Fort Halifax Packing, 482 U.S. at 15, and concluded that ERISA only applies with respect to benefits whose provision by nature requires an ongoing administrative program to meet the employer's obligation. Id. at 11. As a consequence, ERISA is not implicated by [t]he requirement of a one-time, lump-sum payment triggered by a single event because [t]o do little more than write a check hardly constitutes the operation of a benefit plan. Id. at 12. Therefore, whether a benefit is regulated by ERISA turns on the nature and extent of the administrative obligations that the benefit imposes on the employer. 13 Although Fort Halifax Packing has not yet been applied by this court, the decisions of other circuits agree with the proposition 14 that an employee benefit may be considered a plan for purposes of ERISA only if it involves the undertaking of continuing administrative and financial obligations by the employer to the be hoof of employees or their beneficiaries. 15 Belanger v. Wyman-Gordon Co., 71 F.3d 451, 454 (1st Cir. 1995); see, e.g., Delaye v. Agripac, Inc., 39 F.3d 235, 237 (9th Cir. 1994); Kulinski v. Medtronic Bio-Medicus, Inc., 21 F.3d 254, 257-58 (8th Cir. 1994); Angst v. Mack Trucks, Inc., 969 F.2d 1530, 1538, 1540 (3d Cir. 1992). 16 Under the Window Program, the determinations of eligibility and the amount of the benefits to be paid were purely mechanical and were based on one triggering event: the eligible employee's election to retire pursuant to the terms of the Program. Washington Gas was only required to make the straightforward factual determination of whether the employee had met each of the conditions specified in the Program, such as the requirements that the employee submit an election form and meet certain length-of-service criteria, andthen to calculate the amount of the separation payment by multiplying the employee's base pay rate by fifty-two.These are not the kinds of administrative decisions that require ERISA's protection. See, e.g., Velarde v. PACE Membership Warehouse, Inc., 105 F.3d 1313, 1316-17 (9th Cir. 1997) (plan offering different benefits to those terminated for cause or not for cause failed to rise to the level of ongoing particularized discretion required to transform a simple severance agreement into an ERISA employee benefits plan); Belanger, 71 F.3d at 452, 455 (plan allowing agequalified workers to receive variable payment based on years of service required only mechanical decision making and was not governed by ERISA). 17 As Young points out, the Window Program required one discretionary act on the part of Washington Gas, namely the selection of a specific separation date on or before March 31, 1997 for each of the electing employees. The exercise of this limited discretionary right, however, did not create a need for an ongoing administration of the benefit; therefore, it did not bring the Program under ERISA. Cf. Delaye, 39 F.3d at 237 (severance payments to be made over the course of up to 24 months does not rise to the level of an ongoing administrative scheme); Angst, 969 F.2d at 1539 (obligation to make one-time lump-sum termination payment and to continue employee's existing benefits for one year not an ERISA plan because obligation to provide continuing benefits did not require the creation of a new administrative scheme, and did not materially alter an existing [one]). Therefore, applying the test established in Fort Halifax Packing, we conclude that the Window Program was not subject to ERISA. Accordingly, this claim cannot serve as the basis for federal jurisdiction over Young's complaint. 18