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Employee Benefits |
February 4, 2000 • Volume 10, Issue 4 |
| Are the new pension plans fair to all workers? |
By Mary H. Cooper
Introduction
IBM sales manager Steve Barber, a 19-year IBM veteran, lost his traditional defined-benefit retirement plan when the company changed to a cash-benefit plan. He was 12 days shy of eligibility.(Reuters/Milton Hinnant)
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The nation's “new economy,” fueled by dizzying advances in high technology, is proving a mixed bag for workers. On the plus side, it has ushered in a long period of unprecedented national prosperity. But at the same time that corporate coffers are brimming with profits, many employers are changing -- sometimes in mid-career -- the benefits they offer to lure and retain employees. Employers say the changes in traditional pension plans, health insurance and other non-salary “extras” are necessitated by broad shifts in work patterns and demographics, while critics charge they are discriminating against older workers and retirees. With health-care costs on the rise along with worries about Social Security's future, the changes in employee benefits are coming under closer scrutiny in Washington.
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