Hirt, et al. v. The Equitable Retirement Plan for Employees, Managers and Agents, et al.

Case Updates

Agreeing with NCLC, the Second Circuit held that cash balance plans do not inherently violate ERISA’s age discrimination prohibitions.

NCLC urged the Second Circuit to uphold a district court’s decision finding Equitable’s cash balance pension plan did not violate the age discrimination prohibition under ERISA. The lower court also correctly held that participants were time-barred from challenging a plan amendment contained in the summary plan description document, distributed to participants eight years prior to the initiation of the lawsuit. In its brief, NCLC argued that a summary plan description can satisfy the notice requirements under ERISA, and that statute of limitations must be strictly adhered to in challenging the legality of a plan amendment in this case.