29 U.S.C. § 1301 - Definitions

• Cite as: 29 U.S.C. § 1301
• Currency: Current through P.L. 116-259 (12/23/2020)

(a) For purposes of this subchapter, the term-

(1) "administrator" means the person or persons described in paragraph (16) of section 1002 of this title;

(2) "substantial employer", for any plan year of a single-employer plan, means one or more persons-

(A) who are contributing sponsors of the plan in such plan year,

(B) who, at any time during such plan year, are members of the same controlled group, and

(C) whose required contributions to the plan for each plan year constituting one of-

(i) the two immediately preceding plan years, or

(ii) the first two of the three immediately preceding plan years,

total an amount greater than or equal to 10 percent of all contributions required to be paid to or under the plan for such plan year;

(3) "multiemployer plan" means a plan-

(A) to which more than one employer is required to contribute,

(B) which is maintained pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements between one or more employee organizations and more than one employer, and

(C) which satisfies such other requirements as the Secretary of Labor may prescribe by regulation,

except that, in applying this paragraph-

(i) a plan shall be considered a multiemployer plan on and after its termination date if the plan was a multiemployer plan under this paragraph for the plan year preceding such termination, and

(ii) for any plan year which began before September 26, 1980, the term "multiemployer plan" means a plan described in section 414(f) of title 26 as in effect immediately before such date;

(4) "corporation", except where the context clearly requires otherwise, means the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation established under section 1302 of this title;

(5) "fund" means the appropriate fund established under section 1305 of this title;

(6) "basic benefits" means benefits guaranteed under section 1322 of this title (other than under section 1322(c) ¹ of this title), or under section 1322a of this title (other than under section 1322a(g) of this title);

(7) "non-basic benefits" means benefits guaranteed under section 1322(c) ¹ of this title or 1322a(g) of this title;

(8) "nonforfeitable benefit" means, with respect to a plan, a benefit for which a participant has satisfied the conditions for entitlement under the plan or the requirements of this chapter (other than submission of a formal application, retirement, completion of a required waiting period, or death in the case of a benefit which returns all or a portion of a participant's accumulated mandatory employee contributions upon the participant's death), whether or not the benefit may subsequently be reduced or suspended by a plan amendment, an occurrence of any condition, or operation of this chapter or title 26;

(9) Repealed. Pub. L. 113-235, div. O, title I, §108(a)(3)(A), Dec. 16, 2014, 128 Stat. 2787.

(10) "plan sponsor" means, with respect to a multiemployer plan-

(A) the plan's joint board of trustees, or

(B) if the plan has no joint board of trustees, the plan administrator;

(11) "contribution base unit" means a unit with respect to which an employer has an obligation to contribute under a multiemployer plan, as defined in regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury;

(12) "outstanding claim for withdrawal liability" means a plan's claim for the unpaid balance of the liability determined under part 1 of subtitle E for which demand has been made, valued in accordance with regulations prescribed by the corporation;

(13) "contributing sponsor", of a single-employer plan, means a person described in section 1082(b)(1) of this title (without regard to section 1082(b)(2) of this title) or section 412(b)(1) of title 26 (without regard to section 412(b)(2) of such title).²

(14) in the case of a single-employer plan-

(A) "controlled group" means, in connection with any person, a group consisting of such person and all other persons under common control with such person;

(B) the determination of whether two or more persons are under "common control" shall be made under regulations of the corporation which are consistent and coextensive with regulations prescribed for similar purposes by the Secretary of the Treasury under subsections (b) and (c) of section 414 of title 26; and

(C)

(i) notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, during any period in which an individual possesses, directly or indirectly, the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of an affected air carrier of which he was an accountable owner, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract, or otherwise, the affected air carrier shall be considered to be under common control not only with those persons described in subparagraph (B), but also with all related persons; and