A company is planning to buy out the contracts of several Teamsters truck drivers. The company is offering the drivers about $100,000 each. The drivers would like the company to negotiate a deal with the Teamsters allowing the buy-out funds to be used to purchase additional years' credit in the Teamsters pension plan (so the drivers can retire sooner). The drivers have been told this is not legal.

Is it possible to purchase extra years in a multiemployer pension plan?

I wasn't sure where to post this, so it's also posted in Multiemployer Plans.

Thanks for any thoughts!

Well, this $100k sounds like a post-severance compensation to me. But everything is negotiable, so buy the other side a beer and some playoff tickets, and then ask for what you want.