Archives: Resources
What is Recoupment?
I received a letter from my pension plan stating that it has been overpaying me. The letter says that the plan is going to reduce my monthly payments and that I will also have to pay an additional amount to the plan. What can I do? In recent years, the Pension Rights Center has seen […]
Tips for Keeping Track of Your Pension: Additional Detail
This page is a supplement to the Keeping Track of Your Pensions fact sheet. Keep Records Pension plans have a duty under the law to maintain records about the pension plan and the individuals entitled to benefits from the plan. Workers should keep back-up records of their own in case there are mistakes in the […]
Tips for Keeping Track of Your Pension
Each year, the Pension Rights Center gets calls and e-mails from retirees asking for help. Many are seeking a pension plan that was “lost” because their former company moved or merged. We also hear from workers who need help proving that they worked long enough to qualify for benefits. Other people come to us because their pension […]
How Retirement Plans Can Fix Contribution Mistakes
Employers sometimes make mistakes when they put money into a 401(k), profit sharing plan or other defined contribution plan. If they correct the mistake by making a contribution to the plan, the contribution is called a QNEC or Qualified Non-Elective Employer Contribution. Here are some examples of a QNEC (pronounced cue-neck). Companies sometimes fail to […]
Common Questions about the Butch Lewis Act
1. What is the Butch Lewis Act? The Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act is legislation to help severely financially troubled multiemployer plans meet their benefit obligations to retired participants. It was included as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which President Biden signed into law on March 11, 2021. 2. […]
Retirement Savings Lost and Found Act of 2021
The bipartisan Retirement Savings Lost and Found Act of 2021 (S. 1730), reintroduced by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Steve Daines (R-MT) on May 20, 2021, will make it possible for countless former employees to find their old employers and claim their retirement benefits. The legislation is aimed at solving a problem that affects many […]
What the Butch Lewis Act Will and Will Not Do
On March 11, 2021, as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, President Biden signed the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Relief Act into law. The law will preserve and restore the pensions of more than one million retirees and workers in an estimated 200-225 severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans.[i] It is the result of many years […]
State-based retirement plans for the private sector
States around the country are looking into ways of providing retirement savings opportunities for individuals who do not have access to an employer retirement plan. States with a retirement program under consideration or with a program adopted are in bold below. A brief description of the state program is included for each bolded state. […]
Understanding Survivor Benefits in Private Retirement Plans
For married participants in retirement plans, a top concern is making sure that a spouse will receive their retirement benefits if they die. Luckily, most pension plans and many other retirement plans in the United States provide a survivor benefit to widowed spouses of retirement plan participants. In some cases, a survivor benefit can also be left […]
Bafford v. Northrop Grumman Corp
The Pension Rights Center filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circut in Bafford v. Northrop Grumman Corp. on August 10, 2020. Northrup-Grumman’s defined benefit plan, like all such plans, must provide participants with an estimate of their retirement benefits on request. Northrup-Grumman, applying an incorrect benefit formula to a group of […]
The Labor Department’s Notice-and-Access Disclosure Rule: The Basics
The Labor Department has issued a new rule for electronic delivery of plan disclosures to retirement plan participants, called “notice-and-access.”[1] The rule is effective July 27, 2020.[2] The new rule replaces prior guidance on electronic delivery of disclosures to participants, with the exception of a 2002 electronic disclosure rule.[3] The 2002 electronic disclosure rule remains […]
The Labor Department’s new disclosure rule: What could it mean for you?
The Labor Department issued a new rule, effective July 27, 2020, that describes a new form of electronic disclosure for retirement plan information called “notice-and-access.” This new scheme of disclosure will put the burden of finding retirement plan information on to the participants in the plan. Rather than receiving your retirement plan information on paper […]
