- Do not have to give employees information about their benefits or about plan investments.
- Are not required to pay benefits fairly.
- Are not required to adequately fund the pension plan.
- Are not covered by the federal pension insurance program that guarantees most private pension benefits.
Saint Peter's management has been stingy with information about the move, and not entirely honest about its consequences. If you are a plan member, please review the information on this website, take action to convince the IRS to deny the church plan ruling, and get others involved. It is especially important that retirees come forward, as current employees are terrified of retaliation from Saint Peter's management, and there is no database of retirees outside of the hospital. The IRS's comment period closes January 20, 2012.
For a great introduction to the issues, see this blog post and this series of fact sheets from the Pension Rights Center. Please stay tuned for upcoming posts, which will detail the timeline of events and offer strategies for saving your pension from this imminent threat.
Please leave your comments and suggestions below by clicking the "N comments" link. You can leave comments anonymously. Thanks for getting involved -- your participation is crucial!
I was employed at St Peter's for over 23 years with the assumption that 'at the end of the rainbow' was a pension plan. If I had been given the apropriate information about "what if" the hospital converts to a Church Plan, I would have planned my retirement differently.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm not sure what will happen. I'm too old to get back into the already tight job market. Maybe Walmart still needs 'greeters'......
Your blog is helpful for the people to aware about the pension and financial changes. I just want to get advice from independent financial advisors regarding my financial planning.
ReplyDelete