Hertz Schram PC ERISA & Pension Lawyers

I have been a pension lawyer for well over 20 years, and typically receive 5-10 calls a day from people who believe they have a pension claim and want my help. What information do I typically need in order to properly evaluate their claim? First, I need to hear their “story” so I can obtain a clear understanding of what they are complaining about, what they want, and what they have done thus far to try to get it. Frequently,…

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I frequently receive calls from pensioners who have received a notice from the pension plan administrator that they were overpaid and that they must repay the overage; otherwise, the plan will withhold all or a portion of their future pension checks until the overage has been repaid. The callers want to know whether the plan can lawfully do this. My answer? It depends. But if (i) the plan administrator did not mislead the pensioner, (ii) the over payments continued for…

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Under ERISA [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which governs most private-sector employee benefit plans], pension plans must be administered in accordance with their terms. Although this rule is well-known by plan administrators, disputes arise when parties disagree about the meaning of the plan’s terms. Nonetheless, if the terms of the plan unambiguously favor your pension claim, do what the participant did in Walton v. Pension Plan, No. 2:16-cv-00397, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80440 (W.D. Pa. May 24, 2017): FIGHT…

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Pension plans are designed to be long-term such that participants steadily accrue benefits over their period of employment with the plan sponsor and any participating employer. As a result, records of participants’ employment history and benefit accruals may span many years. Participants typically do not maintain these records themselves. Rather, these records are maintained (or should be maintained) by the plan administrator. But what are the consequences if the plan administrator fails to maintain such records? All too often I…

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Courts interpret pension plans in accordance with their terms and, therefore, will not deviate from them, even when the result seems harsh or unfair. Strang v. Ford Motor Co. General Retirement Plan, No. 16-2090, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 8849 (6th Cir. May 19, 2017) is a recent, albeit sad, example. In Strang, John Strang had worked for Ford Motor Company for over thirty-eight years when he retired in 2007 and began receiving monthly pension benefits from Ford’s pension plan. In…

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ERISA [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which governs most private sector pension plans] seeks to protect pension plan participants from losing their promised pension benefits. One way ERISA does this is through an “anti-forfeiture rule” that expressly prohibits the forfeiture of a participant’s vested pension benefit at normal retirement age. In a recent court decision, this rule was instrumental in netting the pension claimant an additional $109,000 in past due pension benefits plus interest and the right to seek…

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There are two basic types of pension plans: (1) defined benefit (DB) plans, which provide a guaranteed benefit based on a defined formula set forth in the plan; and (2) defined contribution (DC) plans, such as 401(k) plans, which provide an individual account for each participant and for benefits based solely on the amount contributed to the account and any income, expenses, gains, or losses allocated to the account. DB plans must provide the benefit in the form of a…

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It makes me sad to learn when heirs fight over a decedent’s assets, especially when it involves a widow’s surviving spouse pension benefits, as occurred in Goins v. Tona L. Goins & Nat’l Elec. Annuity Plan, No. 16-cv-01281, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71387 (S.D. Ill. May 10, 2017). In Goins, Robert Goins passed away and was survived by his wife Tona Goins and two adult sons who were Tona’s step sons. Sometime after Robert’s death, a dispute arose between Tona…

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You would need to be asleep at the wheel to not know we are in a pension funding crisis. Hardly a day goes by when we do not hear about a pension plan that reduces or freezes future benefit accruals to lessen its funding shortfall, or that is predicted to become insolvent in the foreseeable future notwithstanding such benefit adjustments. Participants in these underfunded plans naturally worry that they will lose their hard-earned pension benefits. If the plan is in…

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