PRC Fact Sheet Answers Questions on Multiemployer Plan Rescue Law’s Implementation
By David Brandolph Last March 11 was a joyous day for the Pension Rights Center, multiemployer defined benefit plan members, plan retirees and their families. Thanks to a joint (and painstaking) seven-year effort to inform and convince Congress of the need to address the systemic threat posed by a pension plan insolvency calamity, President Joseph […]
Nonprofit Leader Crusaded Quietly to Protect Pension Benefits
Karen Ferguson, who has died at age 80, built coalitions in Washington and took phone calls from people struggling to obtain promised payments
Karen Ferguson, Fighter for Pension Rights, Dies at 80
She started as one of Ralph Nader’s “Nader Raiders” and, after developing an expertise in retirement systems, became a leading advocate for workers’ rights.
Karen Ferguson, founder of pension watchdog group, dies at 80
Karen Ferguson, the founder of the Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect the interests of workers and retired people and helps promote legislation on their behalf, died Dec. 23 at her home in Washington. She was 80.
PRC staff and board of directors, together with national leaders, deeply mourn the passing of their hero and guiding light, Karen Ferguson
It is with deep sadness and the heaviest of hearts that the staff and board of directors of the Pension Rights Center announce the death of Karen Ferguson, the Center’s president and founder, who died on December 23rd from cancer. The Pension Rights Center is a national consumer organization that works to protect the retirement […]
John Deere workers successfully resist demand for pension freeze of new hires
By David Brandolph Chalk up a victory for a traditional defined benefit pension plan and its members. About 10,000 striking John Deere Co. workers are returning to work under a new contract that, among other provisions, removes language from an initial tentative bargaining agreement that would have prevented new employees from joining the company’s pension […]
PRC News, November 4, 2021
PRC receives a generous grant to support our mission. The Pension Rights Center is thrilled to announce that we have received a three-year grant from the RRF Foundation for Aging (RRF) totaling $375,000 ($125,000 a year). The funds will enable us to expand our efforts to protect and promote retirement security for workers and retirees, […]
Easing Retirement Plan Notarization Could Put Women at Risk
A proposal federal regulators are weighing to end in-person retirement plan election requirements meant to protect spousal benefit rights instead could expose women beneficiaries to fraud.
Employer Reps Ask IRS For Higher Plan Correction Floor
An advocacy group representing large employers that offer employee benefits recommended that the Internal Revenue Service increase a threshold requiring corrections of pension plan overpayments.
Watch Out for 401(k) Fees
By Jane Smith The Pension Rights Center has long warned consumers to be aware of the fees charged by 401(k) plans. That message was reinforced by syndicated columnist Michelle Singletary in her article “Your 401(k) is pocketing fees on your investment. Many people don’t realize it.” Singletary told her readers “It’s important that you understand that the […]
PRC and Covington & Burling LLP comments to IRS on Rev. Proc. 2021-30
PRC submitted comments with Covington & Burling LLP to the IRS on Rev. Proc. 2021-30, which updated selected correction procedures for benefit overpayments under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS”).
Companies Decide the Time Is Right to Offload Pensions to Insurers
Many Americans who still have a traditional pension—the kind that pays a regular income no matter what the market does—could soon have a different company paying their benefits. U.S. companies owe current and future retirees and their beneficiaries more than $3 trillion, and many have been trying to exit the retirement business for years. Right […]
