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When the exception swallows the rule ? The church plan exception to ERISA

By Alliance Alert

When the Exception Swallows the Rule ? The Church Plan Exception to ERISA "Although the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., is very expansive in its preemption of state law, there are certain narrow exceptions to ERISA coverage, including an exception for church plans. For decades, employers affiliated with a church have chosen to structure their employee welfare benefit plans (such as life, health and disability plans) as ERISA plans, rather than church plans. There are a number of benefits to doing so, including federal court jurisdiction, consistency of interpretation for plans covering participants in multiple states, and a favorable standard of review, to name a few. However, participants of these plans are increasingly challenging benefit denials in state court, asserting that the plans in which they participate are church plans and not ERISA plans." By Amy L. Blaisdell Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C., St. Louis, MO and Chicago, IL

Full post as published by Constitutionally Correct on July 21, 2010 (boomark / email).