Author: dcadmin
Butch Lewis Act approved in the House Education & Labor Committee
By Emily Gilbert On Tuesday, Karen Friedman, Katie Jonckheer (our new summer intern), and I were on Capitol Hill for a markup in the Education & Labor Committee in the House of Representatives. In a markup, a congressional committee votes on whether to approve proposed legislation. On Tuesday the Committee discussed three different bills, one […]
New tactics being deployed in challenging church plans
Participants in pension plans exempt from federal regulation due to their church plan status are forging ahead with legal and legislative challenges and some new tactics, despite a 2017 Supreme Court decision that did not go their way.
Learn How to Invest Wisely for (and in) Retirement
By Emily Spreiser The Pension Rights Center’s legal program responds to hundreds of inquiries from individuals who need an attorney’s help understanding or obtaining an earned retirement benefit. In fact, in 2018 we received almost two thousand help requests from individuals online or over the phone. And our public education materials provide helpful information to […]
New Jersey hospital pensioners sue Newark Archdiocese
Former employees of Saint James Hospital filed a lawsuit on May 7 in the Superior Court of Essex County New Jersey alleging that the Archdiocese of Newark has wrongly denied them at least $2.7 million in lifetime pension benefits. The retirees’ complaint alleges that their pensions were payable for life and fully protected by federal […]
Campaigns should make pensions a priority
By Karen Friedman If candidates are smart, saving pensions should be part of their every conversation with voters. Specifically, there should be a dialogue in both parties about how to solve the multiemployer crisis. Time is running out on many of these severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans and policymakers can’t dilly dally any longer. It’s […]
Are you a QDRO attorney? Join our network!
By Karen Racowsky In a blog post last fall I talked about one of my roles as the Pension Rights Center’s Staff Attorney, which is providing information and referrals to individuals who call us for help in obtaining their retirement benefits. I refer many of these callers to the six federally-funded regional Pension Counseling and […]
Joint letter to Secretary of the Treasury on Notice 2019-18 on Lump Sum Buy-Outs
The Pension Rights Center, AARP, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the National Retiree Legislative Network sent a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin urging him to rescind a recent notice that would allow companies to offer lump sum buy-out offers to retirees already receiving their benefits. Read the letter, here.
Recognizing the Pension Counseling Attorneys on Be Kind to Lawyers Day
By Emily Spreiser Today – the second Tuesday in April – is International Be Kind to Lawyers Day. The holiday was invented in 2008 by a non-lawyer who recognized that lawyers often get a bad rap and that a lot of lawyers deserve to be recognized for all of the good that they do. So, […]
Persistence pays off for New Mexico widow
By Emily Gilbert Last month, USA Today published an article about Libby Leask, a woman who had just been forced to put her house on the market after being denied a survivor benefit from her late husband’s pension plan. Before his death in 2016, Steven Leask worked at, and earned a pension from, New Mexico […]
Treasury Notice puts retirees’ pensions at risk
By Karen Friedman Sometimes important changes in pension law are made through the regulatory process or even, more subtly, through guidance that agencies issue to address key issues. Often the guidance sounds technical, but it can make a world of difference, either positively or negatively, to the economic security of retirees. One negative change was […]
Statement of the Pension Rights Center on the “Cost of Inaction: Why Congress Must Address the Multiemployer Crisis” Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (March 7, 2019)
The Pension Rights Center submitted this statement for the record of the Subcommittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing, “Cost of Inaction: Why Congress Must Address the Multiemployer Crisis.” Read the full statement.
New book sounds alarm about retirement insecurity in America
By David Brandolph In her new book, Downhill from Here—Retirement Insecurity in the Age of Inequality, Katherine S. Newman compellingly relates the story of the American retirement experience by diving into the individual and heart-wrenching sagas of a diverse group of workers and retirees. She profiles blue-collar retired truck drivers, highly paid white-collar airline pilots, […]
