• In Laborers' Pension Fund v. Miscevic, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the Illinois slayer statute is one state statute that is not pre-empted by ERISA. A slayer statute is a law that prevents an heir from receiving assets or other property from a decedent if that heir is responsible for the decedent's death.
• ERISA pre-empts most state laws. However, there are certain types of state laws that are not pre-empted.
• While this decision provides meaningful guidance on the applicability of slayer statutes to retirement benefits, it is currently only binding on jurisdictions residing in the Seventh Circuit (e.g., Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin). It remains to be seen whether the holding will become binding on other jurisdictions as well.

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), pre-empts most state laws. However, there are certain types of state laws that are not pre-empted. Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Laborers' Pension Fund v. Miscevic, 880 F.3d 927 (7th Cir. 2018), held that the Illinois slayer statute is one of those state statutes that is not pre-empted by ERISA.

A slayer statute is a law that prevents an heir from receiving assets or other property from a decedent if that heir is responsible for the decedent's death.

In this case, a woman killed her husband. The husband was a participant in a union pension plan that provided survivor benefits to a surviving spouse or, if there were no surviving spouse, to a minor child. There was no dispute as to the facts. In a state criminal proceeding, the woman was found to be not guilty of killing her husband by reason of insanity. Her husband's pension fund, The Laborers' Pension Fund (the Fund), brought an interpleader action to determine the proper beneficiary of the husband's pension benefits because the couple had a minor child.

The woman claimed she was entitled to a surviving spouse pension. The child, through a guardian, claimed the woman was barred from recovering from the Fund by the Illinois slayer statute. The Illinois slayer statute (contained in the Illinois Probate Act of 1975) provides that murderers are treated as having predeceased their victims so they cannot receive benefits as a result of their crime. Both the woman and the child's guardian moved for a judgement on the pleadings. The district court ruled in favor the child. The district court determined that ERISA did not pre-empt the Illinois slayer statute, and that the statute barred even those found not guilty by reason of insanity from the recovering from a deceased spouse. The Seventh Circuit affirmed the ruling of the district court.

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