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EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY ACT
29 U.S.C. §§1001-1461 (1974)
TITLE I—PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RIGHTS
Subtitle A—General Provisions
. . .
Definitions
§ 3 [§ 1002]. For purposes of this subchapter:
(1) The terms "employee welfare benefit plan" and "welfare plan" mean any plan,
fund, or program which was heretofore or is hereafter established or maintained by an
employer or by an employee organization, or by both, to the extent that such plan, fund, or
program was established or is maintained for the purpose of providing for its participants or
their beneficiaries, through the purchase of insurance or otherwise, (A) medical, surgical, or
hospital care or benefits, or benefits in the event of sickness, accident, disability, death or
unemployment, or vacation benefits, apprenticeship or other training programs, or day care
centers, scholarship funds, or prepaid legal services, or (B) any benefit described in section
186(c) of this title (other than pensions on retirement or death, and insurance to provide such
pensions).
(2)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the terms "employee pension benefit
plan" and "pension plan" mean any plan, fund, or program which was heretofore or is
hereafter established or maintained by an employer or by an employee organization, or by
both, to the extent that by its express terms or as a result of surrounding circumstances such
plan, fund, or program--
(i) provides retirement income to employees, or
(ii) results in a deferral of income by employees for periods extending to the
termination of covered employment or beyond,
regardless of the method of calculating the contributions made to the plan, the method
of calculating the benefits under the plan or the method of distributing benefits from the plan.
(B) The Secretary may by regulation prescribe rules consistent with the standards and
purposes of this chapter providing one or more exempt categories under which—
(i) severance pay arrangements, and
(ii) supplemental retirement income payments, under which the p