This year, the Pension Rights Center and the regional pension counseling projects we work with saw a sharp increase in calls for help from retirees who were facing major cuts in their monthly pension payments and hefty penalties … even though they had done nothing wrong!

These retirees had been told by their pension plans that mistakes were made when calculating their pensions and they had been overpaid – sometimes for decades. Now the pension plans were demanding that they pay back the overpayments, a process known as “recoupment.”

The retirees faced a double whammy: Not only was the plan going to reduce their monthly pension – once to the correct amount and then again to recoup a portion of the overpayment – but, in many cases, the plan was also demanding that the retiree pay back an additional lump sum plus interest, as much as $150,000. This is a frightening prospect for an elderly retiree living on a fixed income. 

The Pension Rights Center sprang into action. We shared strategies with counseling project staff for helping these retirees, coordinated with pro bono attorneys to provide legal representation, worked with the media to expose the unfairness of recoupment, and wrote a fact sheet explaining the steps people can take if faced with this situation. We also are asking federal agencies to fix the rules so that repayment demands are less onerous for retirees.

Working with the counseling projects, we have been able to help many individuals fight excessive recoupment, but new cases keep cropping up. The Center can’t change this unjust practice without your support. Every contribution to the Pension Rights Center allows us to continue our work on behalf of American workers, retirees, and their families.    

This year, when you contribute to the Pension Rights Center, your gift will go twice as far.  The Atlantic Philanthropies is providing a dollar-for-dollar match on every contribution made to the Center. This means that your contribution will help us do twice as much to help retirees.

Please consider making a year-end contribution to the Pension Rights Center today. With your support, we will have twice the impact in 2014. If you've already made a donation, thank you very much!