Pension Coverage
If and when an employee is eligible to participate in a pension plan, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires that the pension plan spell out who is eligible for coverage.
Pension plans, like other retirement plans, cannot be structured to benefit only the top executives and exclude others although they generally do not have to include all workers. People who have been excluded from pension plans have sometimes consulted a personal injury attorney Phoenix professional.
If an employee is eligible to participate in his or her employer's pension program, the administrator usually must provide several documents:
· Summary plan - This can explain the basics of how the plan operates. It will also tell the employee the formula for determining his or her defined contributions that the employer may make to the plan and whether or not the pension is insured.
· Summary annual report - This is a yearly accounting of the pension, including its financial condition and operations.
· Survivor coverage data - This is a statement of how much his or her plan would pay to any surviving spouse should the employee die first.
Because pension law is so complex some employees have considered consulting a personal injury attorney Phoenix specialist.
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