436
Opinion of the Court
fied status of the Plan . . . and to comply with all applicable legal requirements." But § 6.2 of the Plan gives Hughes "the right to suspend its contributions to the Plan at any time," so long as doing so does not "create an 'accumulated funding deficiency' " under ERISA.2
By 1986, as a result of employer and employee contributions and investment growth, the Plan's assets exceeded the actuarial or present value of accrued benefits by almost $1 billion. In light of this Plan surplus, Hughes suspended its contributions in 1987, which it has not resumed. Pursuant to the terms of the Plan, the employee contribution requirement remains operational.
Two amendments Hughes made to the Plan are the subject of the present litigation. In 1989, Hughes established an early retirement program that provided significant additional retirement benefits to certain eligible active employees. Subsequently, Hughes again amended the Plan to provide that, effective January 1, 1991, new participants could not contribute to the Plan, and would thereby receive fewer benefits. Existing members could continue to contribute or opt to be treated as new participants. The Plan obligations created by these amendments constitute the only use of the Plan's assets other than paying the pre-existing obligations under the original contributory benefit structure. The Plan's assets substantially exceed the minimum amount needed to fund all current and future defined benefits.
In January 1992, respondents filed this class action on behalf of all Plan participants who had contributed to the Plan and who are or may become eligible to receive benefits des-2 ERISA defines "accumulated funding deficiency" as "the excess of the total charges to the funding standard account for all plan years (beginning with the first plan year to which this part applies) over the total credits to such account for such years or, if less, the excess of the total charges to the alternative minimum funding standard account for such plan years over the total credits to such account for such years." § 302(a)(2), 29 U. S. C. § 1082(a)(2).
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