Washington, D.C. – Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations today, along with Democratic members of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, introduced the Retirement Enhancement Act of 2000, which puts forth a blueprint to strengthen the private pension system for working Americans. The bill would improve pension coverage for all workers, remedy existing inequities affecting divorced and surviving spouses, simplify and update pension investment standards, improve information and enforcement efforts, and address the pension needs of the changing workforce.   The bill is the result of a series of hearings held by the subcommittee earlier in the year and the recommendations made by worker and retiree advocates.

The bill is being introduced by representatives Andrews, Clay, Kildee, Owens, Payne, Mink, Woolsey, Romero-Barcelo, Fattah, Tierney, Kind, Sanchez, Ford, Kucinich and Holt, and has the support of the AFL-CIO, AARP, Pension Rights Center, and Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER).
 
According to Andrews, “since the enactment of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the number of Americans who participate in a pension plan has grown from 38.4 million in 1975 to almost double that today.  While this growth is considerable, it still leaves about half the workforce without access to a pension plan through their employer.  It is time for Congress to take the next bold step and improve our retirement system for the millions of workers who remain left out.”  

Both the General Accounting Office and Congressional Research Service have recently completed studies analyzing pension coverage in the United States. The studies found that about 53% of workers, roughly 68 million people, lacked a pension plan in 1998.  About 39% of those without coverage worked for an employer that did not sponsor a plan, while 14% lacked coverage because their company’s plan did not include them.

The Retirement Security Act of 2000 would lay the ground work to help those not covered by an employer pension plan and seeks to eliminate the remaining weaknesses in ERISA.  Under the bill:

** all employees who meet current minimum eligibility requirements, such as completion of one year of employment, would be covered by their employer plan;

** pension vesting would be reduced to 3 years in 401(k) and profit sharing plans; 

** divorced and surviving spouses would have enhanced rights to receive needed pensions;

** family and medical leave time would be counted for pension vesting purposes;

** employees would have greater involvement in their pension plan investments;

** employees would have greater access to alternative dispute resolution, along with more effective assistance from the Department of Labor and the courts;

** employees would receive timely distribution of their promised benefits and be encouraged to rollover their pensions to other retirement vehicles.

According the ranking Committee member Bill Clay, “this bill lays down an important marker for where Democrats stand on retirement issues.  I commend Congressman Andrews and the co-sponsors for taking a significant step forward  to provide all working families much needed retirement security and pension plan access.”