PRC News, April 28, 2022
PRC launches new website. We’re excited to announce that our website has a new look and a new design, featuring several new sections to showcase our work and key issues to help you find what you are looking for. Do you need assistance with your retirement benefit? Our Find Help page can help you locate resources in your area, answer some common questions, or enable you to contact us for further help. Do you want to learn more about a retirement issue? Check out our issue pages to learn about what issues we are working on. You can find fact sheets, legislation and regulation summaries, statistics and more in the Information Center. And, for the latest news on what we’ve been up to, check out the News Room for recent articles, blog posts, press releases and more.
Super Sustainers and PRC Partners
Anonymous AARP
Bailey & Glasser Marion Mudd
Cosmic Contributors
Stephen R Bruce Law Office Cheiron
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Ralph Nader
National Nurses United Tom Quinn and Tommy Thompson
Amy Shannon and Paul Flynn
We, of course, will never stop missing our esteemed founder, the late great Karen Ferguson. We are planning an event to honor her life and legacy for later this year. We will keep you posted as we finalize the details. For those of you who donated in 2022 – and some of you have already donated expressly in honor of Karen — your contribution will be listed as part of our event.
Critical relief funds are starting to flow to underfunded multiemployer plans. The Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act, signed into law on March 11, 2021, is working to preserve and protect workers’ and retirees’ pension benefits in financially struggling multiemployer plans. Just over the past four months, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), the agency authorized to disseminate aid to plans that meet the law’s eligibility requirements, has approved 10 applications for aid and is considering applications from at least 24 other plans. The full list of current applications can be viewed on the PBGC’s website, here. To learn more about the Butch Lewis Act, read our fact sheets on how the law works and common questions about the law. Also read our press release on Road Carriers Local 707 Pension Plan’s application and approval.
Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 passes in the House of Representatives. The bill, H.R. 2954, (commonly referred to as SECURE 2.0) passed in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 414-5 on March 29th. PRC supports specific consumer provisions in the bill including the creation of the Retirement Savings Lost and Found, an online searchable registry of pension plans to help individuals search for “lost plans” when companies move or change corporate structures. The bill will also provide clear and equitable rules regulating the practice of recoupment, where plans accidentally overpay retirees and then demand repayment– often causing great hardship to retirees who are depending on the pension amounts they were receiving. The Senate is expected to take up a similar bill later this year. Read the letter we sent in support of these specific consumer protections in SECURE 2.0 here.
New qualitative research provides insight on retirement and divorce. AARP, one of the Pension Rights Center’s key partners in the Initiative on Women and Retirement at Divorce, recently released a report that explores how much the typical woman knows about the division of retirement assets at divorce. The report, “Remembering Retirement Assets During Divorce: Qualitative Research Findings,” summarizes the findings from 21 in-depth interviews with a diverse group of women that addressed “the high emotional and financial toll of divorce and the need for reliable guidance on navigating divorce, especially guidance on how to secure a share of the marital retirement assets.” The report’s findings are helping to inform new material being developed by the Pension Rights Center and partnering organizations to educate women and other spouses about securing a share of retirement benefits in their divorces and the importance of those benefits to their long-term financial security. You can read more about this qualitative research and what was learned from the interviews here.
PRC is hiring! We are looking for a Communications and Program Associate to oversee our communications activities and assist with logistics, planning, and scheduling. For more information, qualification requirements, and instructions for how to apply, see the full job description here.
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