
Combination Bonus and Deferral Plan Subject to ERISA
August 1, 2014 SUMMARY: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a deferred compensation plan through which key employees received annual bonuses and were able to defer both bonuses and other income was an “employee pension benefit plan” governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Although the primary purpose of the plan was to provide bonuses rather than retirement income, the court concluded that the plan was governed by ERISA because it pro