Gregory Ossi Comments on Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation Regulations With Law360

In “5 Policy Moves Benefits Lawyers Should Watch In 2023,” Law360 turned to benefits and executive compensation partner Gregory Ossi for his commentary on regulations the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) will be working on in 2023 that impact retirement savings and investment.

Ossi said he thinks the PBGC should have prescribed an actual rate, as opposed to a range of rates, in its rule. “The PBGC is trying to accomplish through an ill-conceived regulation what it could not do in court: allow plans to use the most conservative actuarial assumptions without regard to the plan’s investments or investment experience,” Ossi said.

Ossi predicted legal challenges if the rule gets finalized as proposed and said the PBGC’s approach could push pension funds to choose actuarial assumptions that result in larger withdrawal liability estimates. “You're clearly going to have challenges to the rulemaking. But also, if you're a small employer, you don’t have the wherewithal to take on the PBGC and your withdrawal liability could increase tremendously,” he added.