10/23/23

Why Pensions Are Important

This fact sheet explains the role pensions play in the overall retirement security of American workers, retirees, and their families. Pensions are Important to Retirement Security Social Security provides only a safety net. Average yearly Social Security payment: $22,095 Annual minimum-wage salary: $15,080 Average portion of pay Social Security replaces: 35% Most retirees have little […]


07/31/23

What is Recoupment?

I received a letter from my pension plan stating that it has been overpaying me. The letter says that the plan is going to reduce my monthly payments and that I will also have to pay an additional amount to the plan. What can I do? In recent years, the Pension Rights Center has seen […]


03/04/21

State-based retirement plans for the private sector

States around the country are looking into ways of providing retirement savings opportunities for individuals who do not have access to an employer retirement plan.  States with a retirement program under consideration or with a program adopted are in bold below. A brief description of the state program is included for each bolded state.   […]


11/03/15

Resources for Central States Pension Fund Retirees

This page is intended to serve as a resource hub for retirees who are subject to cuts as a result of the Central States Pension Fund’s application to the U.S. Department of the Treasury to reduce retiree benefits. This page will be updated on an ongoing basis. On May 6, 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department […]


10/30/15

The Pension Accountability Act

In the last days of 2014, Congress passed the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) as part of a year-end budget compromise. As a result of MPRA’s enactment, for the first time in 40 years multiemployer pension plan trustees have been given the authority to cut already earned retiree pension benefits while a plan […]


09/17/15

Companies that have transferred pensions to insurance companies

Below is a list of employers that have transferred their pension obligations for certain retirees and former employees to insurance companies by purchasing annuities. (Note: this is not a comprehensive list. These are only the changes that we are aware of, based on corporate press releases, news reports, and other sources.) This practice differs from […]


08/25/15

Companies that are offering lump-sum pension buyouts

Note: This list is updated on an ongoing basis. Below is a list of employers that have announced that they are offering lump-sum pension buyouts to certain groups of employees, former employees, or retirees. For specifics, click on the employer’s name to see the company’s press release, SEC filing, or news story announcing the change […]


08/17/15

Should you take your pension as a lump sum?

Updated: August 2015 Some companies have offered to cash out the pensions of certain retirees and former employees and instead give them a one-time lump-sum payment. While the idea of suddenly having a large sum of money is tempting, this is a decision that you will have to live with for the rest of your life. […]


06/30/15

How the Keep Our Pension Promises Act Would Save the Central States Pension Fund

The Keep Our Pension Promises Act would make it possible for the largest of the severely underfunded multiemployer pension plans, the Central States Pension Fund (CSPF), to continue to pay promised benefits to its 205,000 retirees. This is because money that would be transferred by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) to the plan each […]


06/29/15

Keep Our Pension Promises Act of 2015

The Keep Our Pension Promises Act of 2015 repeals the “benefit suspension” provisions of the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) enacted at the end of the last Congress. Those provisions allow the trustees of certain financially-troubled multiemployer pension plans to reduce the benefits of retirees and their widows and widowers. The Keep Our […]


06/18/15

Why the Keep Our Pension Promises Act Must Be Passed

Updated: September 9, 2015 On June 18, 2015, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) introduced the Keep Our Pension Promises Act of 2015 into the U.S. Congress to stop benefit cutbacks for retirees in certain underfunded multiemployer plans. These cuts were authorized by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014. In the Senate, […]


05/28/15

Summary of the pension cutback provisions in the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014

In December 2014, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law the 2015 Omnibus spending bill, which included provisions of the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 that allow trustees of certain multiemployer plans to cut retirees’ pensions. Below is a summary of these provisions. Related: Read our fact sheet on multiemployer plan funding. See a […]