Month: December 2014
Congress could cut pensions in ailing plans
A proposal in Congress that could lead to cuts in pension benefits for retirees in financially troubled multiemployer plans drew fire Thursday from worker advocates and unions.
Providence lawsuit raises questions about Catholic health providers’ church pension plans
Employees of Providence Health & Services, the state’s largest health care provider, are suing the Catholic health system in federal court alleging it is using a religious tax exemption to skirt federal pension law.
Congress could soon allow pension plans to cut benefits for current retirees
Congress could soon allow the benefits of current retirees to be cut as part of an agreement to address the fiscal distress confronting some of the nation’s 1,400 multi-employer pension plans. Several unions and pension advocates opposing the move, which would be unprecedented…
PRC letter to Congress opposing “stealth” provisions that would cut retiree benefits in multiemployer plans (December 3, 2014)
The Pension Rights Center sent a letter to every member of Congress, urging them to oppose measures that would allow certain multiemployer plans to cut the earned benefits of retirees. Such a provision might be slipped into the omnibus spending bill without public debate during the lame-duck session of the 113th Congress. Not only is […]
Lame-Duck Congress Nears Last-Minute Vote On Sweeping Pension Reform
Congress is nearing a vote on arguably the biggest change to private pension law in decades. The proposed reforms would grant sweeping new authority to the trustees of some “deeply troubled” multi-employer pension plans to slash benefits promised to current retirees—something that’s illegal under existing law.
The Pension Rights Center and the New England Pension Assistance Project Applaud Government Agencies for Rescuing SPDs
The Pension Rights Center and the New England Pension Assistance Project applaud the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the National Archives, and the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the Department of Labor for saving an extensive microfiche collection of Summary Plan Descriptions (SPDs). Summary Plan Descriptions are plain-English summaries of employee benefit plan rules, […]
