Thurgood Marshall

“ Respondents concede that, at the time the Plan was terminated, they had not satisfied both the age and service requirements for unreduced early retirement benefits. Nevertheless, they claim that they are entitled to such benefits because, in their view, contingent early retirement benefits, even if unaccrued, are "benefits under the plan" under category 6, § 4044 (a) (6) , and therefore must be distributed before the employer can recoup any residual plan assets. ”

“ A defined benefit plan is one which sets forth a fixed level of benefits. See § 1002 (35) . Contributions to a defined benefit plan are calculated on the basis of a number of actuarial assumptions about such things as employee turnover, mortality rates, compensation increases, and the rate of return on invested plan assets. See Stein, Raiders of the Corporate Pension Plan: The Reversion of Excess Plan Assets to the Employer, 5 Am.J.Tax Policy 117, 121-122, and n. ”

“ At age 55, participants were eligible for early retirement benefits, calculated in the same manner as normal retirement benefits, but reduced by five percent for each year by which a participant's retirement preceded the normal retirement age. ”

“ To counter the plain language and clear structure of the statute, respondents rely heavily on legislative history. They contend that Congress' failure to include in category 6 the word "accrued," which appeared in a House version of the statute but did not survive the Conference Committee amendments, evinces an intent to require the provision of unaccrued as well as accrued benefits. We disagree. ”

“ Without the views of the agencies responsible for enforcing ERISA or an opinion by the Court of Appeals, we are reluctant to address these complicated and important issues pertaining to the private pensions of millions of workers. ”