Blogs & Newsletters
Welcome Labor Department Guidance on Missing Participants
By Jane Smith Recently issued Department of Labor guidance is an important step toward resolving the “missing participants” problem. Following several years of investigating how plans do, or do not, stay in touch with former employees who are due benefits, in January 2021, the Labor Department published a best practices guide for pension and retirement […]
NIRS Report Says U.S. Gets Overwhelming Economic Benefit from Pension Payments
By David Brandolph Payments from traditional pension plans generated a staggering $1.3 trillion in U.S. economic output in 2018, according to a report recently released by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS). The NIRS report, Pensionomics 2021: Measuring the Economic Impact of Defined Benefit Pension Expenditures, showed that, in 2018, some $578.7 billion in pension benefits […]
RRF Foundation for Aging’s president urges action to address plight of older adults
By Karen Friedman While Americans of all ages are cheering the prospect of vaccinations, the pandemic has already “put older people’s economic well-being at risk,” Mary O’Donnell, president of the RRF Foundation for Aging, said in an important and timely op-ed recently published in Crain’s Chicago Business. When the pandemic landed ashore earlier this year, many people […]
Retirement & Divorce: New Report Highlights What We Don’t Know
By Emily Spreiser In August 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report on qualified domestic relations orders, or QDROs. For those not familiar with what the GAO does, it’s an agency that responds to inquiries from members of Congress who want to know more about how federal tax dollars are being spent in order […]
PRC News, November 24, 2020
As Thanksgiving approaches, we want to wish you and yours a warm and safe holiday. Although traditions may have to change this year, what won’t change are the Pension Rights Center’s untiring efforts to protect and promote retirement security for workers and retirees and their families. Below you will read what we’ve been up to […]
PRC News, August 28, 2020
Fixing the multiemployer crisis is more urgent than ever. The Treasury Department recently rejected an application from the American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) to cut benefits under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA). Read our press release on the rejection, where Karen Friedman said, “Now [these retired musicians] can breathe a […]
Legislation offers hope for finding lost pensions
By Kyle Garrett In my 15 years at the Pension Rights Center my primary responsibility has been helping people get assistance with their pension problems. The most frequent question I get from callers is, “I worked for a company for a number of years and now that company is gone and I can’t find my […]
A helpful guide for people awarded retirement benefits at divorce
By Emily Gilbert There is now a helpful new guide for individuals who are going through a divorce and have questions about dividing retirement benefits. The guide – created by the Pension Rights Center, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges’ Resource Center on Domestic Violence: Child Protection and Custody, and the National […]
PRC News, June 3, 2020
Both our policy and legal teams have been super busy during the COVID-19 emergency. Our legal program has been hard at work answering your questions and helping people get the benefits they have earned. Our policy team has been working to ensure that new legislative and regulatory proposals protect rather than undercut your rights. Here’s […]
On Saving Pensions, One Step to Go, On Composites and GROW, We Say No!
By Karen Friedman PRC is thrilled that on May 15, as part of the latest COVID-19 relief bill (known as the HEROES Act), the House of Representatives passed the well-crafted Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act (EPPRA) to shore-up underfunded multiemployer pension plans. We urge the Senate to ensure that EPPRA’s provisions are retained in any […]
Notes From Home
Our last day in the PRC office was March 13th, so we are in our 10th week of working from home. It’s been a busy time, and we’ve all found different ways to adjust and be productive from our homes. Here’s what some of us have been up to. Emily Gilbert I don’t have an […]
Consumer advocate recognizes PRC’s “long-term fighters for justice”
By David Brandolph In his May 6 In the Public Interest blog post, “We honor what we value – entertainers over saviors,” renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader notes that the public and the media heap tons of attention on sports figures, inducting them into Halls of Fame and making documentaries and feature films about them, […]
