PRC In the News
03/26/17|Bloomberg BNA

Devil in the Details as Justices Mull Church Pension Cases

The pension benefits of more than 300,000 hospital workers will be at stake when the U.S. Supreme Court convenes on March 27, and it’s anybody’s guess what the justices will want to discuss.

PRC In the News
01/30/17|Times Union

Retirees of former Schenectady hospital face pension loss

Owens is among more than 1,100 employees of the Schenectady hospital, closed nine years ago, to receive a letter in October warning their pension monies could be depleted within the next decade. He and his wife derive two-thirds of their income from the pension.

PRC In the News
01/30/17|Pension & Benefits Daily

Feds Break Silence, Back Hospitals in Church Pension Battle

Five federal agencies have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that religiously affiliated hospitals can run pension plans exempt from federal law, a move that’s been challenged in dozens of class actions by hospital employees around the country.

PRC In the News
01/17/17|The Daily Gazette

Hospital pension fund in trouble: Retirees wonder who will pay, after ‘church plan’ fails

The pension plan covering workers at the former St. Clare’s Hospital has notified more than 1,100 participants that, based on current projections, it will run out of money to pay their retirement benefits in about another decade.

PRC In the News
01/13/17|Pension & Benefits Reporter

Six Items on High Court’s Labor Docket Include Church-Plan ERISA Exemption Cases

The Supreme Court will hear three cases asking whether large hospitals and other non-church employers can use the exemption to avoid fully funding their pension plans.

PRC In the News
01/11/17|Pension & Benefits Daily

Puerto Rico Catholic School Teachers Win Round in Pension Suit

Puerto Rico Catholic school teachers survived a first attempt to dismiss a proposed class action that alleges the administrators of their pension plan mismanaged their retirement assets and failed to comply with ERISA.

PRC In the News
01/11/17|Albany Times Union

Employees of former St. Clare’s Hospital face pension insolvency

A pension fund for employees of the former St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady is likely to run out of money in the next decade, leaving more than 1,100 beneficiaries uncertain about their retirement income.

PRC In the News
12/12/16|New Jersey Star-Ledger

Catholic hospital pensions meet the U.S. Supreme Court; retirees in limbo

Catholic hospital employees who fear they will lose the pensions they were promised were delivered a setback this week, courtesy of the U.S. Supreme Court. The court it will hear three cases — including one against the pension plan of St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick — to decide what kind of pension plan […]

PRC In the News
12/12/16|Pensions & Investments

High court set to rule on church-plan status

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to resolve whether church-affiliated retirement plan sponsors are covered by the ERISA, a decision that could have wide implications for all benefit plans.

PRC In the News
12/12/16|The Atlantic

The Supreme Court Case That Could Bankrupt Religious Schools and Hospitals

On its face, Advocate Health Care Network v. Stapleton and the two other cases it’s consolidated with may seem boring—after all, they’re about federal regulations on pension plans for church-affiliated hospitals. But these cases are actually the culmination of a new, vicious fight over the rights of employers that are loosely affiliated with religious institutions, and how […]

PRC In the News
12/06/16|Pension & Benefits Daily

Billion-Dollar Church Plan Standoff Heads to Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a trio of cases asking whether large hospitals can use a religious legal exemption to avoid fully funding their pension plans, which workers claim are underfunded by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Press Release
12/06/16

Supreme Court to decide whether certain nonprofit pension plans can claim “church plan” status

WASHINGTON – On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will hear three cases to decide whether pension plans established by religiously-affiliated nonprofit healthcare systems can receive the same treatment as plans established by churches. In all three cases, lower courts have ruled that the plans are not exempt from federal law and must […]