Employee Retirement Preservation Act - Amends federal bankruptcy law to redefine "claim" to include a right or interest in equity securities of the debtor (or its affiliate) held in a pension plan for the benefit of an individual who is not an officer or director of the debtor, if such securities were attributable to: (1) employer contributions by the debtor (or an affiliate) other than elective deferrals; and (2) elective deferrals (and any earnings on them) that are required to be invested in such securities under the terms of the plan or at the direction of a person other than the individual or any beneficiary.
Makes this requirement inapplicable, however, to any such securities during a period when the individual or any beneficiary has the right to direct the plan to divest such securities and to reinvest an equivalent amount in other investment options of the plan.
Modifies the priority scheme for expenses and claims to place in fifth order of priority allowed unsecured claims concerning rights or interests in equity securities of the debtor held in a pension plan measured by the market value of the stock at the time of its contribution or purchased by the plan.
Increases from $10,000 to $13,500 the maximum amount of allowed unsecured claims for contributions to an employee benefit plan.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4590 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4590
To amend title 11 of the United States Code to provide fair treatment
of employee benefits.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
December 16, 2005
Mr. Ford introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 11 of the United States Code to provide fair treatment
of employee benefits.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Employee Retirement Preservation
Act''.
SEC. 2. FAIR TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEE BENEFITS.
(a) Definition of Claim.--Section 101(5) of title 11, United States
Code, is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or'' at the end;
(2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ``or'' after the
semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) right or interest in equity securities of the
debtor, or an affiliate of the debtor, held in a
pension plan (within the meaning of section 3(2) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29
U.S.C. 1002(2))) for the benefit of an individual who
is not an officer or director of the debtor, if such
securities were attributable to--
``(i) employer contributions by the debtor
or an affiliate of the debtor other than
elective deferrals (within the meaning of
section 402(g) of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986), and any earnings thereon; and
``(ii) elective deferrals (and any earnings
thereon) that are required to be invested in
such securities under the terms of the plan or
at the direction of a person other than the
individual or any beneficiary,
except that this subparagraph shall not apply to any
such securities during any period during which the
individual or any beneficiary has the right to direct
the plan to divest such securities and to reinvest an
equivalent amount in other investment options of the
plan;''.
(b) Priorities.--Section 507(a)(5) of title 11, United States Code,
is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (B), by indenting the left margin of
clauses (i) and (ii) 2 ems to the right and redesignating such
clauses as subclauses (I) and (II), respectively;
(2) by indenting the left margin of subparagraphs (A) and
(B) 2 ems to the right and redesignating such subparagraphs as
clauses (i) and (ii), respectively;
(3) in the matter preceding clause (i), as so redesignated,
by striking ``Fifth'' and all that follows through ``plan--''
and inserting the following: ``Fifth--
``(A) allowed unsecured claims for contributions to
an employee benefit plan--'';
(4) by striking the period at the end and inserting the
following: ``; or''; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
``(B) allowed unsecured claims with respect to
rights or interests in equity securities of the debtor,
or an affiliate of the debtor, that are held in a
pension plan (within the meaning of section 3(2) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974),
without regard to when services were rendered or
limitation in amount, and measured by the market value
of the stock at the time the stock was contributed to,
or purchased by, the plan.''.
SEC. 3. WAGE PRIORITY AND EMPLOYEE BENEFIT CAP.
Section 507(a) of title 11, United States Code, is amended--
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``$10,000'' and inserting
``$13,500''; and
(2) in paragraph (5)(A)(ii)(I), as so redesignated by
section 2, by striking ``$10,000'' and inserting ``$13,500''.
SEC. 4. SUBORDINATION.
Section 510(b) of title 11, United States Code, is amended by
inserting ``(other than a claim described in section 105(5)(C))'' after
``claim'' the 1st place it appears.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.
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