Your pension and retirement benefits are critical to your long-term financial stability. You have worked hard and saved for your retirement your entire career. As a result, it is essential that you get the full benefits to which you are entitled and for which you saved. As an ERISA law firm, we are experienced employee benefits lawyers who deal with pension matters. If your benefits have been denied, reduced, or miscalculated, you have the right to fight for what you earned. We represent plan participants nationwide, with offices in Chicago and Seattle.
Retirement Benefit Problems We Handle
Plan participants come to us when something has gone wrong with the benefits they earned. The disputes we handle most often include the following.
Denial of Retirement Benefits
A plan administrator may reject a claim for pension, 401(k), 403(b) or other retirement benefits. The denial sometimes cites plan provisions you had never heard of. We review the stated reason against your plan documents and pursue the retirement benefits you earned.
Miscalculated Pension Benefits
Your monthly pension depends on your service record, salary history, and the plan formula. An error in any one of those components can shrink the pension you receive. These errors often surface after mergers, plan amendments, or reinterpretations of plan terms. We compare your calculated pension against the plan and your work history to recover the shortfall.
Vesting and Service-Credit Disputes
Once your pension vests, it cannot be taken away or reduced. Employers sometimes miscount credited service or contest your service dates to reduce a pension or deny full vesting. If you left and later returned, you may be owed credit for the earlier period. We assess whether your service and vesting were counted correctly.
Suspension or Termination of Pension Benefits
Multi-employer and union pension plans sometimes suspend or terminate a pension, often claiming a retiree returned to prohibited employment. We challenge improper suspensions and pursue pension payments that were wrongly withheld.
Improper Offsets to Your Pension
Some plans reduce your pension based on Social Security or other plan benefits. These offset calculations may be erroneous. We confirm that any offset applied to your pension is correct and permitted by the plan.
Claimed Pension Overpayments
A plan may demand repayment years later, asserting it overpaid your pension. These demands often trace to the plan’s own error. We defend retirees against overpayment claims and work to have improper demands withdrawn. Excessive plan fees can also erode a retirement account, an issue Mark DeBofsky examines in his analysis of the Seventh Circuit ruling on excessive fee claims in retirement plans.
Lost Pension Benefits After a Merger or Sale
When companies merge, are sold, or go out of business, a promised pension may ostensibly disappear. We pursue retirement benefits that were diminished through corporate restructuring.
Beneficiary and Survivor Pension Disputes
Disputes over who receives a pension or retirement benefit after a participant’s death are common and governed by strict ERISA rules. We represent surviving spouses, partners, and beneficiaries in contested retirement benefit claims.
Executive and Supplemental Pension (SERP) Disputes
Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans and other executive deferred compensation arrangements operate under different rules. They often surface when executives change roles or companies are acquired. We handle these specialized pension disputes, which frequently overlap with individual disability and benefit coverage.
If your plan administrator or employer has denied, reduced, or delayed benefits you earned, we can help you pursue them.
Know Your Rights
Your pension and retirement benefits represent decades of work and savings. Plan administrators and employers deny valid retirement claims every day, but a denial is never the final word. With over sixty years of combined experience, our team knows how to challenge wrongful denials, navigate the appeals process, and recover the retirement income your family depends on.
Does This Apply to You?
If your pension, 401(k), or other retirement benefits have been denied, reduced, or delayed, you do not have to face the plan administrator or employer alone. Contact DeBofsky Law for a confidential consultation. Our attorneys will review your situation, explain your rights under ERISA, and help you understand the best next steps toward securing the retirement benefits you earned.
Your Vested Rights and the Appeal Record
Employees gain vested rights to their pension and other retirement benefits even before they reach retirement age, which means that once you earn those benefits, they cannot be taken away. Before you file an appeal, it is worth knowing that what you submit during the plan’s appeal can limit the evidence a court will later consider, so it is wise to consult a lawyer early. You may even want to seek legal counsel before initiating a claim under your plan. If something seems wrong with what your employer or plan administrator tells you about your retirement benefits, you should consult a lawyer.
Fees for Pension and Retirement Benefit Claims
Pension and retirement disputes involve unique legal complexities, and we tailor our fee arrangements accordingly. We offer both hourly and contingency options for retirement benefit claims and discuss fees during your first consultation. Learn more about fees for employee benefit cases.
How to Challenge a Denied Pension or Retirement Benefit
Challenging a denial starts with the denial letter, the plan documents, and the reason the administrator gave. A pension and retirement benefits lawyer reviews those against your work history. The lawyer identifies the strongest arguments, gathers the supporting evidence, and prepares a complete appeal. Because what you submit during the plan’s appeal may limit the evidence a court will later consider, preparing a thorough appeal matters. If the appeal is denied, we are prepared to pursue your claim in federal court. For more on selecting counsel, see our guide on choosing the right lawyer for benefit denial cases.
Why Plan Participants Choose DeBofsky Law
DeBofsky Law only represents claimants, never insurers or plans. As an employee benefits law firm, our attorneys have argued benefit cases before federal courts of appeals and have recovered retirement benefits for employees and retirees across the country.
Mark DeBofsky is a nationally recognized ERISA authority who has argued cases that shaped how the law is interpreted.
Our pension and retirement work includes the United Airlines retiree class action, in which the firm co-counseled a case on behalf of United Airlines retirees whose promised early-retirement benefits were denied, and Skowronski v. Briggs, in which the firm secured full ERISA retirement benefit protections for a surviving civil union partner over a beneficiary challenge in a 401(k) plan. See more in our victories.
What Are the Different Types of Retirement Plans?
Retirement benefits are typically paid after your employment ends. Retirement benefits come in many forms. Some employers offer defined benefit plans, also called pension plans, under which they pay a certain amount based on your compensation and years of service. Most employers today offer defined contribution plans, typically 401(k) or 403(b) plans, which are funded by the money you set aside from your payroll and possibly a match or additional contribution from your employer. The most common examples of retirement plans offered by employers include:
- Pension Plans (both single employer and multi-employer plans)
- 401(k) Plans (offered by for-profit companies)
- 403(b) Plans (offered by non-profit organizations)
- Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP)
- Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans (SERP)
- Other deferred compensation arrangements
What Laws Apply to Your Pension and Retirement Benefits?
If you are employed by a private-sector employer, your retirement plan will be governed by the federal benefits law, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). ERISA imposes strict funding, reporting, and fiduciary duties on your employer and plan administrator, and it establishes mandatory claims and appeals procedures if your benefits are denied, terminated, or reduced. Not every plan qualifies, and Mark DeBofsky explains the coverage rules and exceptions in his article on whether your retirement plan is governed by ERISA.
You Deserve the Retirement Income You Intended to Receive
Employers and plan administrators still make mistakes and fail to live up to their fiduciary obligations despite the legal protections afforded to you under ERISA. If your employer has denied or cut back your promised retirement benefits, you have the right to fight for what you earned and saved. You have worked hard for a secure retirement. We are here to fight for you and help you keep the benefits you earned.
Pension and Retirement Benefits FAQs
What should I do if my pension or retirement benefits are denied?
Start by reading the denial letter closely. It must state the specific reason for the denial, the plan provisions relied on, and the deadline to appeal. A denial does not mean the administrator is correct. Keep copies of your plan documents, the Summary Plan Description, correspondence, annual reports, and everything you submit or have received over the course of your employment. The appeal that follows is important, because what you submit during it can limit the evidence a court will later consider. Speaking with a retirement benefits lawyer early helps you understand whether the denial can be challenged and ensures your appeal is complete and on time.
When should I hire a lawyer for a retirement benefits dispute?
Can my employer reduce or take away my vested pension benefits?
My pension was miscalculated. Can a lawyer help me recover the difference?
What happens to my 401(k) if my employer files for bankruptcy?
Pension benefits may be affected by bankruptcy; however, although vested pension plans should not be affected.
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Recent Victories in Retirement Benefits
See how DeBofsky Law has protected clients’ pension and 401(k) rights in court.
Retirement Benefits
$27.5M Settlement: United Airlines Retiree ERISA Class Action
DeBofsky Law co-counseled a class action on behalf of 8,500 United Airlines retirees whose promised early-retirement benefits were denied. The case resulted in a $27.5 million settlement.
Retirement Benefits | ERISA
Skowronski v. Briggs
DeBofsky Law won a dismissal in favor of a civil union partner who was sued by her late partner’s adult children over IBM 401(k) benefits. The court confirmed that under the Illinois Civil Union Act and the IBM Plan’s own terms, a civil union partner qualifies as a surviving spouse entitled to full ERISA retirement benefit protections.
Accidental Death
Prather v. Sun Life
On December 13, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a ruling in the case of Prather v. Sun Life & Health Ins. Co. (U.S.), 843 F.3d 733 (7th Cir. 2016). The case, which involved a claim for accidental death insurance benefits, overturned a lower court ruling denying Lee Ann Prather’s claim and ordered Sun Life to pay the full amount.
Learn More About Pension Law to Protect Your Rights
How Can I Tell If My Benefit Plan Is Governed by ERISA?
ERISA is an acronym for the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Most people have never heard of ERISA, but its comprehensiveness impacts the vast majority of American workers and their dependents. The original intent behind ERISA’s enactment was to remedy pension plan abuses; however, just prior to Congress’ passage of the ERISA law, the scope […]
How Risky is De-Risking?
A term that became popular several years ago among sponsors of ERISA [1] -governed defined benefit plans is “de-risking,” although the issue is now more commonly described as pension risk transference (PRT). […]
Pension Annuitization – De-Risking or Added Risk?
Defined benefit (DB) pension plans used to be the prevalent form of retirement benefit offered by American employers to their employees. […]
