ERISA at 40 – The past puts pension law in perspective
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”), the law governing private retirement plans, has changed quite a bit since it was signed into law in 1974. There have been numerous amendments, court cases, regulatory actions and other developments. ERISA has had such an impact on Americans’ everyday lives that it has become a field of […]
Pension Camelot?
A member of one of America’s most prominent families is taking on a crucial public policy issue: retirement. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the eldest daughter of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, has joined the board of the Washington-based Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit that advocates for pension security.
Pension rights group objects to cutting retiree benefits
The Pension Rights Center agrees that many multiemployer pension plans are in financial distress right now, and that reforms are needed, but it told a House committee this week that it doesn’t agree with the idea of cutting existing benefits to retirees.
Union and retiree pressure mounting against multiemployer pension fund reform
At a hearing held Tuesday by the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions to consider possible legislation, members of the Retirement Security Review Commission discussed their reform proposals, which would allow for reduced benefits for future and possibly current retirees in the most troubled pension funds.
Pension Rights Center Stands with Pensioners against Proposed Cuts
WASHINGTON – The Pension Rights Center released a statement today cautioning Congress against supporting a proposal that “endorses the unprecedented and dangerous step of empowering pension plan trustees … to slash benefits of men and women who are already in retirement and have no opportunity to replace lost benefits.” The statement, distributed at a hearing […]
PRC statement on protecting employees, employers, and retirees when making reforms to the multiemployer pension system (October 29, 2013)
The Pension Rights Center submitted a statement for the Congressional record to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions of the U.S. House Education and the Workforce Committee for a hearing titled “Strengthening the Multiemployer Pension System: How Will Proposed Reforms Affect Employers, Workers, and Retirees?” In its statement, the Pension Rights Center opposed proposals […]
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Debra Whitman Join Pension Rights Center’s Board of Directors
WASHINGTON — The Pension Rights Center is pleased to announce that former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and AARP Executive Vice President Debra Bailey Whitman have joined the organization’s board of directors. Townsend and Whitman join a prestigious roster of academic, legal, and policy experts in guiding the nation’s leading consumer organization on retirement […]
ERISA at 40: What Were They Thinking?
Event description: Enacted in 1974, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act was the result of a decade-long quest to safeguard the retirement savings of American workers. Opposed by business interests and most labor unions, hobbled by turf wars in Congress and the Executive Branch, ERISA overcame long odds, bringing sweeping regulatory changes for employee benefit plans. […]
Pensions ask retirees to pay back tens of thousands
Some pension plans have overpaid retirees for years — now they’re demanding their money back. For retirees, it can mean owing tens of thousands of dollars. And with little warning, their pension checks are being slashed to cover their debt.
Stealth Bill Would Allow Cuts to Current Pensions
If there was a bright side to the government shutdown, it’s that Congress has delayed taking up a little-publicized bill that would leave some pensioners high and dry.
The War on Pensions Goes Federal
Congress is expected to take up legislation in the next month that would fundamentally reshape the laws governing multi-employer plans. A soon-to-be-introduced bill could allow the trustees of some financially troubled plans, like the Central States Fund, to slash benefits already promised to current retirees. It’s not yet clear how big those cuts would be.
Law shields churches, leaves pensions unprotected
Pension shortfalls at some religiously affiliated hospitals, businesses and social service agencies are raising new alarms and spotlighting a largely overlooked gap in the law protecting Americans’ retirement benefits.
