Pension News

On New Year’s Eve, current and retired employees of Augsburg Fortress, the publishing arm of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, learned that their traditional defined benefit pension plan would be terminated and that they could lose a substantial portion of their benefits as a result of the termination.  (more…)

As I was reading the most recent edition of the Private Pension Plan Bulletin Abstract of 2007 Form 5500 Annual Reports [PDF], published by the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, I noticed something rather odd in one of the footnotes.  (more…)

A few months ago we posted a blog entry about a letter [PDF] we wrote opposing a bill in the Oklahoma state legislature that would limit the ability of former spouses to receive an award of military retirement pay in a divorce settlement. The blog entry received a number of comments - several disagreeing with our position. (more…)

With the provocative title, “Time to Retire the 401(k),” the cover story of today’s issue of TIME is a must-read. The article provides a stinging indictment of the do-it-yourself savings plan that has come to dominate our patchwork retirement system. (more…)

Labor Day marks the 35th anniversary of a law hailed by its principal sponsor Senator Jacob Javits as “the greatest development in the life of the American worker since Social Security.” Thanks to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, millions of retirees are receiving the secure lifetime pensions that are making it possible for them to live comfortably in retirement. (more…)

Last week Zep Inc. announced plans to reinstate its 401(k) matching contributions.  This move comes six months after the company suspended its match and cut executive pay to reduce costs.  At the time, Zep’s CEO said that restoring the match would be the top priority when the company returned to profitability.  Currently, Zep is restoring its match to half the level it was before the suspension, but the company expects to fully restore the match by January. (more…)

The recent bankruptcies of Chrysler and General Motors have caused a lot of workers to be concerned about their pensions. While Chrysler has now emerged from bankruptcy GM is still going through the bankruptcy process and the question. “What will happen to my pension?” is very much on the minds of workers and retirees in the automotive sector - and elsewhere. (more…)

For the past several months, the PRC has been maintaining a list of companies that have reduced or stopped matches to their 401(k) plans.  When the economy takes a turn for the worse as it has in the past year, companies view cutting 401(k) matches as an easy way to reduce costs.  Recently, Business Management Daily published an article for employers on how to break the news to employees and how to encourage employees to continue saving despite the loss of the match.  (more…)

Today the IRS announced new tax “withholding adjustment procedures” for pension plans today, repairing a problem that we raised in a letter to the Treasury Department on April 1.  (more…)

The NFL, what many (including this avid sports fan) consider to be the nation’s favorite and most popular sport’s league, has taken an action that could potentially undermine the retirement security of it workers and retirees. (more…)