The fight to protect savers from bad financial advice heats up
The U.S. Department of Labor’s effort to update its fiduciary rules – rules that protect Americans trying to save for retirement – has reached yet another new level. After asking the public for its thoughts on its proposal to close a loophole that, among other things, allows financial advisers to enrich themselves at the expense […]
Plucking people’s pensions
That’s what’s happening for some folks who are giving up rights to future pension payments, reports The Washington Post’s Jonnelle Marte. It’s called pension advances, which offer retirees a lump-sum cash advance in exchange for all, or part, of their future pension payments, according to Marte.
What are the limits of congressional power to authorize suits?
Spokeo Inc. v. Robins, which will be argued on Monday, Nov. 2, has the potential to significantly change the law in terms of the ability of federal statutes to authorize suits in federal courts.
U.S. CEO retirement packages: Bigger than yours
Most fast food workers do not earn enough to retire with much of a pension. Then there is David Novak, executive chairman of YUM Brands, the conglomerate that runs Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and KFC outlets.
PRC letter in support of the Pension Accountability Act (October 22, 2015)
The Pension Rights Center sent a letter to U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio), expressing its support for Senator Portman’s Pension Accountability Act (S. 2147). Read the letter here [PDF]. Related: PRC’s summary of the Pension Accountability Act An op-ed by Sen. Portman about the Pension Accountability Act in the Plain Dealer (October 9, 2015) PRC’s fact sheet on […]
PRC letter in support of the Women’s Pension Protection Act of 2015 (October 22, 2015)
The Pension Rights Center sent a letter to U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), expressing its support for S. 2110, the Women’s Pension Protection Act of 2015. Read the letter here [PDF].
Lawmaker Says Central States Rescue Not Only Option
A lawmaker who introduced legislation to address the Central States Pension Fund’s anticipated future insolvency—along with other supporters of the bill and critics of the fund’s rescue plan—disputed the notion that the plan is the only realistic solution.
PRC Praises Labor Department for New Rules for Economically Targeted Investments
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez announced today new guidance for economically targeted investments (ETIs) in retirement plans. By issuing Interpretive Bulletin 2015-01, the Department of Labor (DOL) affirmed that the first duty of pension plan trustees is to the workers and retirees who depend on the plan for their retirement, but the […]
Proposed draconian cuts to Teamsters’ pensions draws fire from retirees, who vow action
If you want to meet some of the most ticked-off people on the planet, talk to any trucking industry retiree who received that letter from the Teamsters’ Central States pension plan notifying them of their potential financial haircut coming in retirement.
Legislation can keep pension plans funded (letter to the editor)
The first domino has fallen. In the waning moments of Congress last December, a bill was passed allowing multiemployer pension funds to cut the long-promised pension benefits of retirees.
Pension Rights Center Response to Central States Teamsters Pension Fund Letter
On September 22, James P. Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, wrote to Thomas Nyhan, Executive Director of the Central States Teamsters Pension Fund, to ask that the Fund’s trustees not propose “draconian benefit cuts that will impose significant hardships” on the Fund’s participants. Such cuts were authorized by the Multiemployer Pension Reform […]
Pension Rights Center Calls Proposed Retiree Benefit Cuts by the Central States Pension Fund a “Pension Demolition Plan”
WASHINGTON – Last week, the Central States Pension Fund began notifying hundreds of thousands of retirees that it has applied to the U.S. Department of the Treasury to cut their pensions. The application was filed under the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA), which allows trustees of severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans to cut […]
