The Pension Action Center at the Gerontology 

Institute, University of Massachusetts Boston, 

was a partner with the Pension Benefi t Guaranty 

Corporation in the development of this booklet.
Introduction ........................................................... 1

Defi ning Your Search ............................................ 3

Legal Protections .................................................. 8

Getting Ready to Search:

 Looking for Documents ....................................... 9

Your Potential Allies

 in the Search ..................................................... 11

The Pension Benefi t

 Guaranty Corporation ...................................... 13

Places to Look ...................................................... 14

What to Do If

 You Find the Pension Fund .............................. 20

A Final Word ....................................................... 24

Appendix A: Glossary .......................................... 25

Appendix B: Employee Benefi ts Security

 Administration (EBSA) ..................................... 27

Appendix C: Pension Counseling Projects ......... 30

CONTENTS

Arthur Kelly, who is now 68, worked for 20 years 

for the Grand Valley Tool & Die Corporation 

in Millville, Ohio, in the 1960s and 1970s. He 

remembers that he was part of a pension plan 

that, as a young worker, he had paid little 

attention to. Now, he has just retired from his 

most recent job. He has a small pension from that 

employer, along with Social Security benefi ts, 

but he could use additional income. He wants to 

track down his old employer and start collecting 

whatever pension money he is owed. But when he 

calls the company’s old number, he fi nds it is “not 

in service.” A call to the phone company’s directory 

assistance for Millville draws a blank—Grand 

Valley Tool & Die is not listed. He is at a loss. How 

can he fi nd out if he still has a pension?

Arthur Kelly is a fi ctitious person, but his problem 

is all too real. Thousands of retired workers in the 

United States are entitled to pension payments 

that they have not claimed because they do not 

know where to look. After all, a private company 

may:

• move from one city or town to another;

• close down a particular plant or offi ce to 

consolidate its operations elsewhere;

• be bought by another company and given a 

new name;

• merge with another company;

INTRODUCTION

1
• divide into separate parts, none of which 

retains the old company name;

• go bankrupt;

• any combination of the above; or 

• simply close its doors and disappear.

Workers may be tempted to shrug their shoulders 

and write off the pensions as “lost.” Indeed, some 

pensions may in fact be gone forever. In many 

cases, though, the pension money is sitting 

safely in a fund, waiting only for the worker (or a 

surviving spouse or benefi ciary) to come forward 

to collect it. If you think you may be entitled to 

money in a pension fund, as a participant or as 

a spouse or benefi ciary of a participant, it makes 

sense to try to track it down. This booklet, which 

is based on the experience of pension counselors, 

gives advice on how to plan and conduct your 

search. A glossary (Appendix A) explains some of 

the terms that may be unfamiliar.

2
DEFINING 

 YOUR SEARCH

3

First, Is It Worth Looking?

Vesting. The most important question to ask 

yourself at the outset is whether your work for 

this past employer entitled you to a pension. 

Another way to put this question is this: Were 

you vested in the pension plan at the time that 

you left the job? Being vested means that, no 

matter when you leave the job, you are eligible 

for a pension at retirement age. You may have 

left the job 20 years ago, but if you were vested, 

you are entitled to pension benefi ts. Even if the 

pension fund no longer exists, you may still be 

able to get your pension benefi ts. (See the box 

on page 8 about “Legal Protections.”)

 Today, most pension plans require fi ve years 

of service, or employment, before vesting. But 

before the mid-1980s, plans typically required 

10 years and, before the mid-1970s, 20 years 

or more. Before 1976, plans could even require 

that you keep working for the same employer 

until you actually retired to get a benefi t. If 

you don’t know for a fact that you were vested 

in the pension plan, and you only spent a few 

years on the job before the mid-1980s, the 

chances are slim that you are entitled to a 

benefi t.

Rules of Eligibility. Every private pension plan’s 

rules of eligibility are contained in a document 

called a summary plan description (SPD) that 

is supposed to be given to every worker at 
the time he or she joins the plan. As the rules 

change, the worker should periodically receive 

an updated document. The rules in effect at 

the time you leave the company are the rules 

that determine whether you have a pension or 

not. Changes in the rules after you leave the 

company usually do not apply to you.

 Summary plan descriptions were required 

only after Congress passed the Employee 

Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in 

1974. In some cases, however, comparable 

company documents are available for earlier 

years, especially in the case of pension plans 

that were developed in negotiations between 

management and a union.

When You Left. It matters whether you left the 

job before 1976 (see the box on page 8 on 

“Legal Protections”). If you left after 1975, 

you have more rights under federal law. 

However, even workers who left before ERISA 

became effective for their pension plans are 

sometimes able to collect their pensions if they 

can locate the pension fund and they met the 

requirements of the plan for a benefi t before 

they terminated their employment.

Spouses’ Rights. Traditional (called “defi ned 

benefi t”) pension plans must provide married 

workers with a qualifi ed joint and survivor 

annuity (QJSA), meaning that the worker’s 

spouse is entitled to a benefi t. If the QJSA is 

not waived (see below), and the spouse survives 

4
the worker, pension payments will continue, 

usually at a reduced amount, for the rest of the 

spouse’s life. In addition, since August 23, 1984, 

defi ned benefi t plans have been required to 

provide preretirement survivor coverage that 

would provide a benefi t to the spouse if the 

worker dies before retiring. 

 Before 1985, many pension plans offered joint 

and survivor options but often a worker could 

choose a different benefi t form without his 

or her spouse’s consent. Beginning in 1985, 

defi ned benefi t plans were required to pay 

married workers a joint and survivor benefi t 

unless the worker waived this form of payment 

and the spouse consented to this change in 

writing. If you are a surviving spouse, it may 

be worth looking for a pension your husband or 

wife may have earned regardless of when he or 

she left the job.

 The requirement that a survivor annuity be 

provided for a spouse does not apply to defi ned 

contribution plans (for example, profi t-sharing 

or 401(k) plans).

What You Are Looking For

 The object of your search is the pension plan—

or its successor—that may owe you a benefi t. 

Broadly speaking, here is what may have 

happened to your benefi ts:

• The plan may still be intact, in one form or 

another. That is, the original company may 

have reorganized, or been bought out, but 

5
the current owners have inherited the legal 

obligation to pay the benefi ts due under your 

old pension plan.

• The plan may have bought an annuity contract 

from an insurance company that took over the 

obligation to pay annuities to everyone entitled 

to benefi ts under the plan.

• The plan administrator may have arranged 

for a fi nancial institution or other company to 

administer the plan, or transferred the money 

owed to workers who could not be found to a 

fi nancial institution.

• The plan may have been taken over by the 

Pension Benefi t Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), 

which will pay the benefi ts up to certain limits 

(see box on page 13).

• The plan may have been terminated by 

the employer, with benefi ts paid to plan 

participants who could be found. If the 

plan was a defi ned benefi t plan, benefi ts for 

“missing” participants like you may have been 

turned over to PBGC for its Pension Search 

Program.

• A fi nal possibility is that the plan is simply 

gone, along with the money it owed. This 

possibility, although it is usually illegal, cannot 

be ruled out. But there is no reason to assume 

that it happened.

 Your job will be to trace the history of the 

pension plan from the time you left the job to 

6
7

the present. This may be as simple as fi nding 

out where your old company has moved, or 

it may be as diffi cult as piecing together a 

complicated story of corporate mergers and 

bankruptcies. The sources of help that are 

described on pages 14-23 of this booklet may 

well be necessary in your search.
Legal Protections

Once, private pensions were almost entirely unregulated. 

It was not at all uncommon for a worker to reach the end 

of a long working life and fi nd that his or her nest egg, in 

the form of an ample pension, had completely disappeared. 

In 1974 Congress passed the Employee Retirement Income 

Security Act (ERISA). This law, and other reforms enacted 

since 1974, established broad protections for many workers. 

The Department of Labor monitors pension plans to make 

sure they are solvent and are being responsibly managed. The 

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also regulates pension plans, 

primarily for tax purposes.

ERISA established PBGC, a federal agency that insures private 

defi ned benefi t pension plans to make sure that workers are 

not deprived of their accumulated benefi ts (see page 13 for 

more information on PBGC).

However, not all pension plans are protected by this federal 

law. Here are the major exceptions to ERISA’s safeguards:

• Only private-sector workers are protected, not employees 

of the federal government or state or local governments.

• The ERISA protections are not retroactive: that is, they do 

not apply to workers who left their companies prior to the 

effective date of ERISA. For most plans this is 1976 but 

for some plans, especially those established after ERISA 

was passed, the effective date might have been as early as 

1974. For multiemployer plans, the effective date may be 

later. Nonetheless, it is important to know that, in some 

cases, if a person satisfi ed the provisions of the plan for 

a benefi t and was vested in the benefi t when he or she 

terminated employment, he or she may be due a benefi t.

• PBGC only insures defi ned benefi t pension plans.

8
 You should gather and keep in one place any 

documents you can fi nd that may have a 

bearing on your pension eligibility. Any or all of 

the following types of documents can be highly 

valuable:

• a notifi cation that you are vested in the plan;

• an individual benefi t statement (which many 

larger plans provide automatically each year);

• an exit letter, received when you left, noting 

your participation in a pension plan;

• a summary plan description showing the plan’s 

rules, including the rules for vesting.

 Documents showing the full offi cial name of 

the company and its Internal Revenue Service 

ID number can also be helpful, in case you 

need to trace what happened to the company. 

Any documents that show your period of 

employment and your earnings while working 

for the company will also be useful to prove 

your eligibility after you have located the plan. 

Such documents include pay slips and W-2 

forms.

 If you contact the Social Security 

Administration, you can get a copy of your 

“earnings record,” which will show how much 

you were paid each calendar year by each 

employer. From that record, you may get your 

employer’s federal ID number, which may 

be helpful in tracking down the plan. Call 

 GETTING READY TO SEARCH:

LOOKING FOR 

 DOCUMENTS

9
1-800-772-1213 and ask for Form SSA-7050, 

entitled “Request for Social Security Earnings 

Information.” (You can also get a copy of the 

form and its instructions by going to the Social 

Security Administration’s Web site at www.

socialsecurity.gov/online/forms.html.) This 

form will show whatever fees you may need to 

pay for the information. You should expect that 

the response from Social Security may take six 

weeks or more.

10
 Looking for a pension fund can be highly 

confusing. For that reason, once you have 

gathered as much of the information 

mentioned above as possible, it is important to 

look for guidance where you can fi nd it. Here 

are some potentially helpful allies.

The U.S. Department of Labor

 ERISA gave the Department of Labor a major 

role in protecting the pension rights of workers 

in the private sector. Within the Department, 

the Employee Benefi ts Security Administration 

(EBSA) and EBSA’s regional and district 

offi ces provide assistance to individuals who 

are having diffi culty with their pensions. 

(Addresses and phone numbers for the EBSA 

offi ces are listed in Appendix B.)

 The benefi t advisors are experienced in all 

aspects of ERISA. They can provide you 

general information about your rights and will 

intervene with administrators of the fund on 

your behalf if necessary. They can also assist 

you in your search for a “missing plan.”

The Pension Benefi t Guaranty Corporation

 PBGC maintains a computerized list of 

individuals who are entitled to benefi ts from 

pension plans under PBGC’s administration 

but who cannot be located. (See the box on 

page 13.) The PBGC list constitutes a potential 

YOUR POTENTIAL ALLIES

IN THE SEARCH

11
shortcut for some workers or their benefi ciaries 

looking for pensions that may still be owed 

them.

Pension Counseling Projects

 Through grants from the U.S. Administration 

on Aging, a number of free pension counseling 

services were initiated in the mid- and late 

1990s.

 They provide free pension counseling to 

individuals in their service area. Many 

specialize in “hard cases,” including those 

in which individuals are unable to locate 

their pension plans. A number of states, 

including some of the largest ones, have such 

counseling services. (Names, addresses and 

phone numbers of these projects are listed in 

Appendix C.)

The Reference Desk of a Nearby Library

 Most libraries will have resources—printed 

directories and computerized data bases—that 

can help in your search. The directories may 

be helpful in tracing a company: for example, 

the library may have directories listing 

acquisitions and mergers going back a number 

of years. Workers at the Reference Desk can 

help you use these sources, and they can help 

you fi nd free or low-cost private clearinghouses 

for unclaimed retirement benefi ts. In most 

cases, they can also help you use one of the 

library’s computers in your search.

12
The Pension Benefi t

Guaranty Corporation

PBGC provides a possible shortcut to fi nding your lost pension if:

• you had a defi ned benefi t pension plan that terminated 

after July 1, 1974 (a defi ned benefi t pension plan promises 

participants specifi ed benefi ts at retirement, with the benefi ts 

generally based on such factors as salary, length of service, and 

age at retirement); and

• the sponsor of your plan was a private company that was not a 

religious organization, nor was it a professional service employer 

(such as lawyers, doctors, and architects) that employed 25 or 

fewer persons. The PBGC will not be able to help if your plan 

was paid for only by union dues or was administered by a 

government agency.

You can access (or have someone access for you) a Web site listing 

maintained by PBGC (www.pbgc.gov/search/default.htm). Or, 

you can fi nd this listing by going to PBGC’s Web site at www.pbgc.

gov, clicking on the “Workers and Retirees” tab at the top of the 

page, and then clicking on the link under the heading “Pension 

Search: Help us fi nd missing participants.” As of September 2006, 

PBGC’s computerized directory listed about 38,000 individuals 

who had pensions waiting for them. Those without computer access 

may write to the PBGC Pension Search Program, P.O. Box 151750, 

Alexandria, VA 22315-1750. Even if your name does not appear 

in this listing, you may wish to check the list of plans taken over 

by PBGC to see if PBGC is now responsible for a plan you were 

once in. The list may be viewed at www.pbgc.gov/trusteedplans/

default.htm.

You needn’t be intimidated by the technology involved. A librarian 

at your local public library should be able to fi nd the site and look 

for the information within a matter of minutes. You (or someone 

else) can simply type in your last name to fi nd out whether you are 

on a list of “lost” benefi ciaries of pensions that have been taken 

over by PBGC. You can also type in the company’s name to see if its 

pension plan has been taken over by PBGC.

13
 In this section, we discuss thirteen possible 

sources of information on the whereabouts of 

your pension. Some of them are easier to gain 

access to than others. Keep in mind the “Allies” 

discussed in the previous section. Start with 

the federal Department of Labor and pension 

counseling projects for guidance in your search. 

After working with these organizations, you 

also might try searching PBGC’s database, 

which covers all participants in terminated 

defi ned benefi t plans who could not be located 

by PBGC or by their former employer.

 None of the sources of information described in 

this section is likely to lead you directly, in one 

easy step, to the pension fund. Small steps can 

be enormously helpful. If you fi nd out the name 

of a company that bought your old employer, 

then you can use the other sources to look for 

that second company. (To fi nd a pension plan, 

you will normally need to fi nd the company 

that sponsored it, even though the plan and 

the company are not the same thing.)

 1. If you can easily get in touch with any former 

co-workers who stayed at the company longer 

than you did, they may be able to tell you what 

happened to the company. If the former coworker is getting pension checks, ask where 

the checks are coming from.

 PLACES TO LOOK

14
 2. A union that represented workers at the 

company (even if you yourself were not part 

of the bargaining unit) may have information. 

Other workers may have asked the union the 

same question.

 If you don’t know which union it was, or how to 

locate it, the state’s labor federation (the state 

AFL-CIO) may be able to help you identify and 

fi nd it. The labor federation is likely to have 

its offi ce in the state’s largest city or its capital 

city.

 3. The Chamber of Commerce of the city or town 

where the company was located may know 

where the company moved, or who bought it 

out. If the person you talk with initially doesn’t 

know, ask if they can refer you to someone who 

has been active in the Chamber over a long 

period of time.

 4. In some cases, the name and address of the 

pension plan administrator, as listed in the 

most recent document you can fi nd, may lead 

you directly to your answers. If the address 

is different from the company’s old address, 

there is a chance that this person will still be 

reachable there and can either end your search 

or can help you with it. 

 Every pension plan has someone—or some 

department—offi cially designated as the 

plan administrator. In a very small company, 

15
it is likely to be the owner who functions as 

the plan administrator. In a bigger company, 

it is usually another executive or a pension 

benefi ts department. It could also be someone 

from an independent fi rm that specializes in 

handling pension plans. In any case, the plan 

administrator keeps the employment and 

pension records for each participant in the 

pension plan. If the pension plan is still intact, 

then the plan administrator is the object of 

your search.

 5. The plan’s annual fi nancial reports may 

identify the plan’s accountant, actuary, trustee 

or attorney. One of these parties should be 

able to tell you who can provide up-to-date 

information on the plan. These reports are 

contained in federal Form 5500; they are 

fi led with the Employee Benefi ts Security 

Administration (EBSA) about two years after 

the year that they cover, and they are kept by 

the EBSA for six years. For information, call 

a benefi ts advisor on EBSA’s toll-free hot line 

(1-866-444-3272) or e-mail EBSA through the 

Web address: askebsa.dol.gov.

 6. A specialized business library may be able to 

help. One in particular, the Kirstein Library 

(a branch of the Boston Public Library), 

has been very helpful and is not limited to 

Massachusetts companies or callers from 

Massachusetts. Its address is 20 City Hall 

16
Avenue, Boston, MA 02108 and its phone 

number (8 am - 5 pm, Monday-Thursday; 9 am 

- 5 pm Friday and Saturday) is 617-523-0860. 

A business library may sometimes be able to 

provide information as to a corporate merger 

or buyout that affected your company.

 7. A computerized search for information may 

be helpful. There are several “search engines” 

that enable someone to type in the name of a 

company, perhaps with other key words, and 

gain almost instantaneous access to relevant 

information. A librarian at your public library 

is likely to know how to use one of these 

searching techniques.

 Keep in mind that the computerized 

searches suggested here are an easy matter 

for someone—a librarian, a relative, a 

friend—who is familiar with the information 

that can be found on the Internet. In many 

cases, searching for documents that contain 

both the name of a company and the word 

“pension” will retrieve relevant information. 

In many other cases, of course, it will not yield 

anything helpful. But it is worth a try. It may 

be especially helpful if you have been able to 

trace your company’s trail through one or more 

name changes or corporate mergers.

 8. Your state government requires annual reports 

from corporations—reports that, among other 

17
items, list the names and addresses of the 

corporate offi cers. The responsible state agency 

may be the Secretary of State’s offi ce or it 

may have another name. A call to the main 

switchboard of your state government should 

give you the name and phone number of the 

agency that collects these reports. In some 

cases, contacting one of the corporate offi cers 

listed in the report may be important in fi nding 

out what happened to the company.

 9. The company’s competitors may be a resource, 

in that they may know what happened to your 

company. The trick here may be to get to speak 

with someone who has been with the other 

company for a long time.

 10. A local historical commission or historical 

society may have information as to what 

happened to a company. Sometimes these 

phone numbers are listed in the local 

government pages of the phone book, or a town 

hall can help.

 11. The offi ce of a county or municipal recorder 

of deeds may sometimes be able to provide 

information as to what happened when a 

company closed its local operations.

 12. If it was a publicly traded company, a stock 

broker may know what happened to it.

18
 13. If you fi nd out that the company went 

bankrupt, see if you can get the name and 

address of the trustee in bankruptcy.

 In a great many cases, a lost pension plan 

can be located—and locating it can mean 

tangible benefi ts for the participant, spouse, 

or benefi ciary who is owed money under the 

pension plan. However, it is hard to tell which 

of these sources will provide the necessary 

information, and sometimes none of them will 

work. Even experienced pension counselors 

will sometimes have to abandon hope of fi nding 

a lost pension. 

19
 If you fi nd the company (or its successor), you 

will then have to fi nd out what happened to the 

plan. You are likely to end up in contact with 

one of these potential holders of your pension 

money:

• The plan administrator of your pension plan 

(or of another plan with which yours has been 

combined).

• An insurance company to which the plan 

administrator transferred funds in the plan for 

the purpose of providing annuities to eligible 

participants.

• A fi nancial institution in which accounts were 

established for participants who could not be 

paid because they could not be located.

• PBGC, if it took over your pension plan’s 

obligations, or if your defi ned benefi t plan was 

terminated and its plan administrator used 

PBGC’s missing participants program when it 

couldn’t fi nd you.

 Regardless of which of these has the pension 

money, your approach to them—your next 

step—should be similar.

Initial Contact

 Contact the plan administrator, the insurance 

company, fi nancial institution, or PBGC, giving 

your dates of employment and offering to 

provide a copy of the most recent individual 

 WHAT TO DO IF

YOU FIND THE

 PENSION FUND

20
benefi t statement that you have. Ask if you 

were covered and what benefi ts you are 

entitled to. Ask for a copy of the summary plan 

description. If the party you contact responds 

that you are not entitled to a pension, you can 

read the document to see whether you agree 

with that decision or not.

 Any correspondence should be sent by a 

delivery method that provides confi rmation of 

delivery (e.g., a return receipt).

If Not Satisfi ed 

 If it is an insurance company that controls 

the pension fund, then the initial response 

it provides is fairly certain to be its fi nal 

response. An insurance company, at the point 

when it takes responsibility for a plan, accepts 

the employer’s records regarding (a) who the 

participants in the plan are and (b) what 

benefi ts each participant is entitled to. The 

same is true for fi nancial institutions in which 

accounts were established for participants who 

could not be located. If you have documents 

or other evidence that the information relied 

on by the insurance company or fi nancial 

institution is incorrect, it’s likely that you will 

have to go back to the employer to make your 

case that the information is incorrect.

 If PBGC has taken over the pension plan, it 

also accepts the employer’s records but its 

initial determination regarding an individual’s 

benefi ts is subject to an appeal process.

21
 If the pension plan is still intact (or has been 

combined with another employer–sponsored 

pension plan) you also have the possibility of 

recourse. If the plan administrator says you 

are not eligible for a pension but you aren’t 

convinced, or if the pension benefi ts do not 

seem to add up to what you are entitled to, 

then you should get advice. The best initial 

sources are:

• The Employee Benefi ts Security 

Administration (EBSA) of the U.S. Department 

of Labor (see Appendix B).

• A pension counseling project if there is one in 

your area (see Appendix C).

 An EBSA benefi t advisor or a pension 

counselor can look over your records and 

advise you as to whether you have been given 

fair treatment. If you haven’t, they can give 

you free assistance in getting the benefi ts to 

which you are entitled. They may intervene 

on your behalf with the plan administrator 

and will advise you about, or assist you in 

following, the plan’s appeals procedure if 

necessary.

Other Sources of Help

 If you should decide you need a lawyer to 

represent you, the National Pension Lawyers 

Network maintains a list of attorneys, in all 

50 states, that handle pension claims. The 

Network can be reached at (617) 287-7324 

22
or (617) 287-7332, by e-mail at npln@umb.

edu, or through its Web site at www.

pensionaction.org/npln.htm. Before 

deciding to take on the expense of a lawyer, 

however, you should satisfy yourself that the 

amount of money that is potentially involved is 

worth the cost.

 The American Academy of Actuaries maintains 

a pension help registry consisting of actuaries 

willing to volunteer to help people check the 

accuracy of pension calculations. This list 

may be accessed through their Web site at 

www.actuary.org/palprogram.asp. The 

Academy is at 1100 17th Street NW, 7th fl oor, 

Washington, DC 20036, and can be reached 

by phone at (202) 223-8196 or by e-mail to 

actuary@actuary.org.

 The national Pension Rights Center 

(1350 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 206, 

Washington, DC 20036, phone (202) 296-3776 

or e-mail through their Web site at www.

pensionrights.org/contact) may be able to 

steer you in the right direction for getting help. 

23
This booklet provides help in defi ning, planning 

and conducting a search for a “lost” pension. There 

are no guarantees of success. Perhaps the only 

certainty is that, without an effort to locate the 

pension fund, whatever money may be owed to you 

will never be yours.

A FINAL WORD

24
Defi ned benefi t plan: A type of pension plan 

that promises participants specifi ed benefi ts 

at retirement. The benefi ts usually are based 

on the number of years worked for a company 

or in an industry, and they may also be based 

on salary during that time. The employer is 

responsible for maintaining enough money in 

the pension fund to meet the plan’s obligations, 

usually the payment of a monthly annuity to 

the plan participant and survivor benefi ts to 

that participant’s spouse.

Defi ned contribution plan: A plan in which the 

employer and/or the employee put money into 

the individual account of the employee but no 

specifi ed benefi ts are promised at retirement. 

The employee is entitled to the amount of 

money put into his or her account, adjusted for 

any income, expenses, gains or losses posted 

to the account. These plans have become 

increasingly common in recent years; examples 

include profi t-sharing and 401(k) plans.

EBSA (Employee Benefi ts Security 

Administration): Agency within the U.S. 

Department of Labor whose responsibilities 

include the regulation of pension plans.

ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security 

Act): Federal law passed in 1974 that tightened 

the standards for the management of pension 

plans and gave regulatory powers to three 

federal agencies: the Department of Labor, 

the Internal Revenue Service and the Pension 

APPENDIX A:

 GLOSSARY

25
Benefi t Guaranty Corporation. A number of 

subsequent amendments and laws since 1974 

have strengthened ERISA’s protections.

Multiemployer plan: A collectively bargained 

plan maintained by more than one unrelated 

employer, usually within the same or related 

industries, and a labor union.

PBGC (Pension Benefi t Guaranty Corporation): 

A federal corporation established under 

ERISA to insure private-sector defi ned benefi t 

pension plans. PBGC takes over the payment 

of pension benefi ts in cases where corporate 

sponsors of defi ned benefi t pension plans have 

gone bankrupt, ceased operations, or proved 

to a bankruptcy court or to the PBGC that the 

plan sponsor cannot remain in business unless 

the plan is terminated.

Plan administrator: The person or persons who 

administer the plan. If no one is designated 

as the administrator in the plan document, 

the employer is considered to be the plan 

administrator. The plan administrator is 

responsible for maintaining the pension plan, 

keeping records on individual participants, 

overseeing the payment of benefi ts under the 

plan, and managing the plan assets.

Vesting: The point at which a participant becomes 

permanently entitled to a benefi t under the 

terms of the plan, whether or not he or she 

continues to work for the employer. A pension 

plan will specify the length of service required 

for vesting.

26
U.S. Department of Labor

EBSA Offi ce of Participant Assistance

200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N5623

Washington, DC 20210

 Toll-free hot line: 1-866-444-EBSA (3272)

 Web site: www.dol.gov/ebsa/

District Offi ces

Detroit District Offi ce

211 W. Fort Street, Suite 1310

Detroit, MI 48226-3211

 (313) 226-7450

Miami District Offi ce

8040 Peters Road, Bldg. H, Suite 104

Plantation, FL 33324

 (954) 424-4022

St. Louis District Offi ce

Robert A. Young Federal Bldg.

1222 Spruce Street, Room 6310

St. Louis, MO 63103

 (314) 539-2693

Seattle District Offi ce

1111 Third Avenue, Room 860

Seattle, WA 98101-3212

 (206) 553-4246

Washington District Offi ce

1335 East-West Highway, Suite 200

Silver Spring, MD 20910

 (301) 713-2000

APPENDIX B: EMPLOYEE 

 BENEFITS SECURITY

ADMINISTRATION (EBSA)

27
Regional Offi ces

Atlanta Regional Offi ce

61 Forsyth Street, Suite 7B54

Atlanta, GA 30303

 (404) 562-2156

Boston Regional Offi ce

JFK Building, Room 575

Boston, MA 02203

 (617) 565-9600

Chicago Regional Offi ce

200 W. Adams Street, Suite 1600

Chicago, IL 60606

 (312) 353-0900

Cincinnati Regional Offi ce

1885 Dixie Highway, Suite 210

Ft. Wright, KY 41011-2664

 (859) 578-4680

Dallas Regional Offi ce

525 South Griffi n Street, Room 900

Dallas, TX 75202-5025

 (972) 850-4500

Kansas City Regional Offi ce

City Center Square

1100 Main Street, Suite 1200

Kansas City, MO 64105-5148

 (816) 426-5131

28
Los Angeles Regional Offi ce

1055 E. Colorado Boulevard, Suite 200

Pasadena, CA 91106-2341

 (626) 229-1000

New York Regional Offi ce

33 Whitehall Street, Suite 1200

New York, NY 10004

 (212) 607-8600

Philadelphia Regional Offi ce

Curtis Center, Suite 870 West

170 S. Independence Mall West

Philadelphia, PA 19106-3317

 (215) 861-5300

San Francisco Regional Offi ce

71 Stevenson Street, Suite 915

San Francisco, CA 94105

 (415) 975-4600

29
Great Lakes Pension Rights Project

(KY, MI, OH, PA)

Kentucky Pension Rights Project

Access to Justice Foundation

209 E. High Street

Lexington, KY 40508

 Toll Free: (800) 200-3633

 Local: (859) 255-9913

Michigan Pension Rights Project

Legal Hotline for Michigan Seniors

3815 W. St. Joseph’s Street, Suite C200

Lansing, MI 48915

www.elderslaw.org/Pension/index.htm

 Toll Free: (800) 347-5297

 Local: (517) 485-9164

Ohio Pension Rights Project

Pro Seniors, Inc.

7162 Reading Road, Suite 1150

Cincinnati, OH 45237

www.proseniors.org/oh_pension.html

 Toll Free: (800) 488-6070

 Local: (513) 345-4160

Pennsylvania Pension Rights Project

SeniorLAW Center

100 S. Broad Street, Suite 1810

Philadelphia, PA 19110

 www.seniorlawcenter.org/

 Toll Free: (877) 727-7529

 Local: (215) 988-1244

APPENDIX C:

 PENSION COUNSELING

 PROJECTS

30
Mid-Atlantic Pension Rights Project

(NJ, NY)

New York Legal Services for the Elderly

130 W. 42nd Street

17th Floor

New York, NY 10036

 Toll Free: (800) 355-7714

 Local: (646) 442-3310

Midwest Pension Rights Project

(AR, IL, KS, MO, MS)

Chicago Pension Project (greater Chicago only)

Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan 

 Chicago

111 W. Jackson Boulevard, 3rd Floor

Chicago, IL 60604

www.lafchicago.org/

 Local: (312) 347-8358

 Fax: (312) 341-1041

St. Louis Pension Rights Project (AR, IL 

 except greater Chicago, KS, MO, MS)

OWL Gateway Chapter

2165 Hampton Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63139

www.owlstlouis.com/

 Toll Free: (877) 725-1516

 Local: (314) 725-1516

31
New England Pension Assistance Project

(CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Pension Action Center

Gerontology Institute

University of Massachusetts, Boston

100 Morrissey Boulevard

Boston, MA 02125-3393

 www.pensionaction.org

 Toll Free (New England): (888) 425-6067

 Local: (617) 287-7307

Pension Information, Counseling and 

Assistance Project of the Southwest

(NM, OK, TX)

Legal Hotline for Texans

Texas Legal Services Center

815 Brazos, Suite 1100

Austin, TX 78701

 www.tlsc.org/pension%20counseling.htm

 Toll Free: (888) 343-4414

32
Upper Midwest Pension Rights Project

(IA, MN, ND, SD, WI)

Iowa Pension Rights Project

Iowa Legal Aid

1111 Ninth Street, Suite 230

Des Moines, IA 50314

 www.iowalegalaid.org

 Toll Free: (800) 992-8161

 Local: (515 282-8161

 Fax: (515) 244-5525

Minnesota Pension Rights Project

Minnesota Senior Federation

1885 University Avenue, Suite 190

St. Paul, MN 55104

 www.mnseniors.org/content/

category/17/64

 Toll Free: (866) 783-5021

 Local: (651) 783-5021

Wisconsin Pension Rights Project

Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups

Elder Law Center

2850 Dairy Drive, Suite 100

Madison, WI 53718-6751

 www.cwag.org/legal/pension-rights

 Toll Free: (800) 488-2596

 Local: (608) 224-0606

33
34

Pension Benefi t Guaranty Corporation

1200 K Street, NW

Washington, DC 20005-4026

www.pbgc.gov

PBGC Publication 1012

September 2006