Month: October 2018
Pension Rights Center Aims to Protect the Retirement Security of Millions of Americans Through Resources and Advocacy
In a Nutshell: Pensions help supplement the Social Security income of millions of retirees each year and were supposed to be paid out in full when a worker reached retirement. However, many workers who are owed benefits have found them dramatically reduced, or denied altogether. The Pension Rights Center is a public policy advocacy group […]
Retirees fear permanent Halloween horror if Congress fails to save pensions
By David Brandolph Ghosts and goblins can be scary, but this Halloween tens of thousands of retirees across the country are counting on a special under-the-radar congressional committee to help them avoid the frightening prospect of losing their retirement benefits due to a pension plan insolvency crisis. Congress’ failure to act would also have horrific […]
Speech by Karen Friedman to Kansas City-Missouri Committee to Protect Pensions (October 18, 2018)
Karen Friedman gave a speech to the Kansas City-Missouri Committee to Protect Pensions on October 18, 2018. You can read the speech here.
Proposed legislation would provide new protections for women
By Jane Smith Our retirement system is based on the notion that most people work full-time throughout their lives. This is a concept that has framed the rules for retirement plans. However, a lifetime of full-time work is not the common practice for many women. As Senator Patty Murray documents in the “Findings” section of […]
Pension cuts law makes mockery of American democratic principles – Retirees to use democratic processes to fight back
By David Brandolph The idea of one person, one vote, is a core principle of American democracy, and, consistent with this tenet, millions of citizens across the nation are expected to exercise their right to vote in elections taking place in the next few weeks. At about the same time, workers and retirees in a […]
Consumer group urges special congressional committee to develop solution to multiemployer pension crisis
As a result of a misguided law passed in 2014 to ostensibly “save” pension plans, the Treasury Department announced last week that it has provisionally approved an eighth application from a multiemployer pension plan seeking to slash the benefits of vulnerable retirees as a way of balancing its books. The Teamsters Local 805 plan headquartered […]
Are you a pension attorney? Join our network!
By Karen Racowsky As the Pension Rights Center’s Staff Attorney, I am usually on backup phone duty when Operations and Referrals Manager, Kyle Garrett, is at lunch or on another call. Since Kyle is in charge of most of our intake, when he’s busy, I am usually the one who talks to retirees who aren’t […]
Comments to the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans
On September 30th, 2018, the Pension Rights Center submitted comments to the Joint Select Committee on Solvency of Multiemployer Pension Plans.The letter includes three sections: 1) An explanation of how this emerging crisis developed and a critique of MPRA, which reversed the key promise of ERISA: that a plan cannot take away benefits that employees […]
