Press Release
Local 707 retirees in New York on road to getting benefits restored due to Butch Lewis Act and PBGC
For Immediate Release Contact: Karen Friedman, 202-296-3776 The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the federal agency that backstops failing pension plans, recently announced some great news— that it has, for the fourth time in less than one month, approved financial assistance under the Butch Lewis Emergency Pension […]
The Pension Rights Center urges the IRS to protect retirement spousal rights
For Immediate Release Contact: Karen Friedman, 202-320-6518 The Pension Rights Center (PRC) sent a comment letter to the IRS in opposition to efforts to weaken spousal rights to retirement benefits. The Pension Rights Center has been a leading consumer voice working to protect the retirement security of workers, retirees […]
New Law Causes Musicians’ Pension Trustees to Rethink Benefit Cuts
For Immediate Release Contact: Karen Friedman, 202-320-6518 Tens of thousands of musicians— pianists, trumpeters, celloists, saxophonists and others— who were fighting cuts to their pensions are reaping immediate gains from the newly enacted Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act, which was passed as part of the $1.9 trillion Covid-19 aid package, known as the American […]
Musicians Paul Livant and Andy Snitzer Contribute “Service Award” to Pension Rights Center
Andy Snitzer and Paul Livant, the named plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against the trustees of the American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Fund (AFM-EPF), received a service award of $10,000 each when that case settled. Rather than keep their awards, which compensated them for their time and the risks they took on, […]
Treasury Department rejects application by musicians’ pension fund to cut benefits – saving retirees’ pensions. Now it’s up to Congress to act!
Musicians across the country are cheering the U.S. Treasury Department’s decision Tuesday to reject the application filed by the Trustees of the American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM-EPF) to reduce their benefits. The Pension Rights Center joined more than 180 retired musicians, who were facing 40 percent cuts, in urging the Treasury […]
Pension Rights Center Calls on Retirement Plan Participants to “Ask for Paper!” in Response to New Anti-Consumer Labor Department Disclosure Rule
In response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s new anti-consumer “notice-and-access” disclosure regulation that goes into effect today, the Pension Rights Center is urging workers and retirees to tell their pension and 401(k) plans that they want to continue receiving their key retirement information on paper – not just by getting a text or email […]
Supreme Court strips workers of their right to sue for pension plan mismanagement
In a 5-4 decision issued on Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that pension plan participants have no right to sue the people running their plans for fund mismanagement. The Court’s majority opinion in Thole v. U.S. Bank holds that since most people participating in a traditional pension plan will receive their promised benefits regardless […]
New government “hide and seek” rule tells workers to hunt for retirement information on websites
In the midst of an economic collapse and at a time of heightened financial insecurity, the U.S. Department of Labor has issued a regulation that tells workers and retirees that to find information about their retirement rights they will have to hunt for it on a website. No longer will people automatically receive yearly statements […]
America needs pension relief in HEROES Act — NOT the GROW Act
With the House of Representatives poised to vote on the next COVID-19 relief package, known as the HEROES Act, the Pension Rights Center applauds the congressional leaders who have included within the massive bill the important provisions of the Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act (EPPRA) which will strengthen the nation’s multiemployer pension system. PRC, however, […]
Pension Rights Center Comments Urge Treasury Department to Flunk Musician’s Fund Application to Cut Retirees’ Pensions
The Pension Rights Center (PRC) filed comments today on behalf of a group of retired musicians who will “forever lose 40 percent of their hard-earned pensions” if the U.S. Department of the Treasury approves a proposed cutback scheme filed by the Trustees of the American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund (AFM – EPF). […]
Consumer advocacy group asks Labor Department to withdraw proposal that would curtail employees’ receipt of important retirement plan information
November 20— The Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, charges that a new proposed Labor Department regulation would undermine the rights of workers and retirees to receive critical retirement information. The Department of Labor, the agency charged with protecting workers’ and retirees’ retirement rights, should withdraw its proposed rule (Default Electronic Disclosure by […]
House Passes Bipartisan Bill to Avert National Retirement Crisis
While former Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified before Congress, the big news on Capitol Hill yesterday arguably was the boost the House of Representatives gave to hundreds of thousands of working-class American workers and retirees who have lost or will lose a major portion of their promised retirement income. The “People’s House” on July 24 […]
