PRC In the News
Labor secretary’s job might be new, but his plate is full
Thomas Perez, the new secretary of labor, will have little time to make an immediate imprint on retirement issues as he inherits the already packed regulatory agenda of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, including a controversial new fiduciary rule.
High Anxiety: The Nonprofit Sector’s Retirement Problems
When you ask employees at nonprofit organizations about job satisfaction, more often than not they will give you a positive response; for these mission-oriented workers, purpose is paramount. When asked about their plans for retirement, however, nonprofit employees express insecurity and uncertainty about the future.
Pension Advocates Raise Questions About IRS Rulings on Church Plan Status
In the months since the Internal Revenue Service lifted a moratorium in 2011 on issuing private letter rulings on church plans, IRS has issued at least 13 rulings granting church plan status, including one conferring church plan status on a defined benefit pension plan sponsored by a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) unincorporated religious organization that had been […]
Detroit Pensions Battle
PRC’s Karen Friedman discusses the impact of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing on retirees’ pensions and the safety of pensions in general. Segment starts 8:00 minutes into the program.
Teamsters pension plan stuck in crisis
The plight of the Teamsters’ Central States, Southeast & Southwest Pension Plan has been in the news lately and its prospects are not good.
Claim That 401(k)s Beat Defined Benefit Plans Stirs Controversy
A basic — and increasingly nostalgic — assumption in the private pension world has long been that the financial payouts of defined benefit plans are much better than those of defined contribution plans, and it’s too bad that defined benefit plans seem to be heading for extinction.
Detroit’s workers and retirees face big cuts
While the details of Detroit’s historic bankruptcy filing Thursday continue to unfold, one thing is clear: Tens of thousands of current and retired city workers face the risk of significantly smaller pension checks.
“Retail Investor Protection Act” Does Not Protect Investors: Coalition
The controversial “Retail Investor Protection Act, recently introduced by Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), is gaining opposition from coalitions set on protecting investor interests.
A deed well done: Pensions protected
Let me brag. The Pension Rights Center, where I serve on the board, has just helped participants in a so-called church plan achieve justice. The Pension Rights Center did not do this alone; former employees and retirees as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) played important roles. This […]
Do no harm: Protecting retirees in shaky pension plans
We’ve all heard the physician’s Hippocratic oath: “First, do no harm.” But there’s a similar, less-well-known principle in the world of pensions: First, do no harm to retirees.
Suddenly, Retiree Nest Eggs Look More Fragile
Many Americans don’t have enough money to carry them through retirement — and many of them know it.
House panel hears multiemployer pension reform ideas
Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., called for “broad, structural changes” in the multiemployer pension system at a hearing Wednesday of the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions.
