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ERIC Policy Statements

THE ERISA COMMITTEE

<nobr>Aug 22, 2003</nobr>

ERIC Report: Hybrid Pension Plans Do Not Discriminate Against Older Workers (Cooper v. The IBM Personal Pension Plan)

ERIC on August 21 issued a brief that criticizes a recent federal district court decision maintaining that IBM’s cash balance plans discriminated against older workers. On July 31, a federal district court in Southern Illinois adopted a test for age discrimination that would outlaw all hybrid pension plans, contributory defined benefit plans, and any other defined benefit plan that indexes benefits between an employee's termination date and the date the employee begins to receive benefits.

More than 400 major companies have adopted cash balance plans and other hybrid pension plans. These plans cover millions of employees and hold 40% of all defined benefit plan assets invested in the U.S. economy.


Text Files:

Click here to view the brief


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