Kaplan v. Saint Peter’s Healthcare System

St. Peter’s, a non-profit healthcare entity, runs a hospital, employing over 2,800 people, with ties to a New Jersey Roman Catholic Diocese. The Bishop appoints most Board of Governors members and retains veto authority over Board actions. The hospital has daily Mass and Catholic devotional pictures throughout the building. In 1974, St. Peter’s established a non-contributory defined benefit retirement plan; operated the plan subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA); and represented that it was complying with ERISA. In 2006 St. Peter’s sought a church plan exemption from ERISA, 26 U.S.C. 414(e); 29 U.S.C. 1002(33), continuing to pay ERISA-mandated insurance premiums while the application was pending. In 2013, Kaplan, who worked for St. Peter’s until 1999, filed a putative class action alleging that St. Peter’s did not provide ERISA-compliant summary plan descriptions or pension benefits statements, and that, as of 2011, the plan was underfunded by $70 million. While the lawsuit was pending, St. Peter’s received an IRS private letter ruling. affirming the plan’s status as an exempt church plan. The Third Circuit initially affirmed the denial of a motion to dismiss, concluding that St. Peter’s was not a church. The court reversed, following a June 5, 2017, order by the Supreme Court of the United States. View "Kaplan v. Saint Peter's Healthcare System" on Justia Law