Eighth Circuit discusses when promise to pay sever…

Eighth Circuit discusses when promise to pay severance is ERISA plan

In Eide v. Grey Fox Tech. Servs. Corp. (5/22/03), 8th Cir. holds that dispute over oral promises of severance was not preempted by ERISA because it did not relate to an ERISA plan. Discusses when a severance promise or plan becomes an ERISA plan, focusing on need for an “ongoing administrative program.”

This was a reversal for the employer, which had used ERISA to remove the case to the preferred venue of federal court.