Prerequisites: RCC*. Pension and benefit funds are currently the largest single source of capital in the nation (over $3 trillion). Their collection, administration, distribution, and other key aspects are regulated in private sector employers by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). ERISA provides complex tax and other incentives to businesses to create and administer pension and benefit funds. The course focuses primarily on ERISA and its impact on a host of employment and business-related problems, including collective bargaining, tax planning, multi-employer bargaining arrangements, mergers, acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, plant closings, layoff, bankruptcies, divorce and probate, preemption of state law, fiduciary relations, and fiscal policy.