Federal court declares new pension plan not a church plan
A recent pension plan that was set up by New Brunswick, N.J.- based healthcare system is not capable of qualifying as a plan for the church that can be excluded from the Income Security Act of Employee retirement. This was announced by an appeals court of the federal government.
Pension plan deemed unfit to be called a church plan:
ERISA is the name of the law that these plans need to abide by. According to it, the plans need to be fully funded and should also provide employees with some rights and facilities regarding their benefit awarding.
This pension plan decision was unanimous and was written by Thomas Ambro who is a judge of the U.S court of appeals in the third circuit on the eve of December 29th. It stated “The health care system of Saint Peter is incapable to be considered qualified for the church-plan exemption because its roots weren’t set by a church”.
This healthcare system is creating a new wave of uncertainty in the minds of people regarding the exempt status of other plans. The retirement plan was established in 1974 and at the time operated a plan that abided with ERISA completely.
The employees of the church are more than happy for their request finally getting granted because they had been trying to achieve this for quite some time now. It motivates them to work with a zealous attitude and satisfies their needs of getting attention. It’s hoped that things end up the right way in the longer run as well.
