In article , Pete Bergstrom
says...

I had an interesting epiphany around 1999 when my (large company based in NJ
and run by Tony Soprano types with MBAs) employer forced every employee in
the company - 100,000+ - to choose between the traditional pension plan and
a cash balance plan. I'm a long way from retirement, and I had to face up to
the recognition that (1) I couldn't possibly trust the thieving executives
to fulfill the current commitments (medical + the federally-protected
defined benefits) of the traditional pension plan even until I retired, and
(2) they wanted me to know that they didn't think we'd be long-term
employees - new employees only had access to the cash balance plan. I took
the cash balance with me when I left the company a few years later and
they've now significantly cut the medical benefits to current retirees.

Yep. A certain large blue company got it's teat caught
in a wringer over the enforced switchover to cash-ballance
plans. One court ruled on a class-action lawsuit, and said
that yes, doing this is age discrimination.

Of course there will be appeals, but the bottom line is they
can take away whatever they feel like. Real funny to find out
that much of the money gained by taking the pensions away from
older workers went straight to fund another retirement setup
for the executive management.

Jim

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