If you stay and Vz wireline gets sold off to another company (or) we get re-badged to some
other company .. could we lose our Verizon pension? Do we have to take this offer to preserve that?
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Verizon should just give us whats left of OUR EARNED PENSIONS. I fear that they will somehow try to screw is out of whatever they can.
ERISA law protects what pension money you have accrued. The company cannot keep the money. Any statement contrary to that is false. They can delay your access to it, stop further contributions etc. however they cannot "keep" monies already earned. A pension is a form of deferred compensation by definition one has earned it and it is held in trust. The idea that they are gifts bestowed on employees by "benevolent job creators" is a misconception drummed up by the Right. Anyone with question should go to the ERISA website it is explained there. Yes many a shyster outfit has tried to play games with the monies they OWE their employees but in the end they are liable. Why do you think you get your yearly statements and the listing of the liabilities on the shareholder report? These are not optional mailings , but required by law. ERISA exists to pay out for failed systems and there are max payouts and limits on age (one may need to wait till 65 to collect), they do not payout cash balances, etc. ,however to get to that point the company must go bankrupt. The max they will payout is somewhere near 60K a year per plan participant (regularly adjusted for inflation) , so if you are owed more than that and VZ goes belly up you might then have something to worry about. A lot would need to happen to get there resulting in a complete loss of shareholder value.
@hht said "Because the new company gets the pension money that Verizon is holding for you when you retire!!!" I don't believe this is true, but if it is - that is what guillotine was made for!
VZ pension is about 90% funded , they are ready for the big exodus coming the next few years . After that it will be mostly temp hires .
It is my understaning if u are vested your pension is protected...if outsourced they let you take out and rollover. They cant take your pension.
You don’t lose your pension , it goes to the buyer . And it isn’t only 25% .
You cannot lose your pension, you have 90 days to move it to an appropriate landing spot whenever you leave Verizon (quit or retire/get severed).
What is at stake is you don't officially retire is Retiree medical contribution and other smaller benefits like % off VZ Wireless or VZ telephone or maybe TV plans for Retirees.
Your STI bonus is at stake if you quit before the end of the year, you will lose it. Most severance packages pay you the STI, at min prorated for the number of months you worked, at most for the whole year even if you worked only 10 months.
In one of the rebadge sessions, someone in a similar situation said that you have to retire before the rebadge to get your pension
Perhaps talk to HR?