Central States president Alex Bryant pointed out that several Regional conferences were paying into the church s retirement plan at a much higher rate than they should have, given the number of Regional employees deriving benefits from the plan. The Regional presidents decided to press the issue last year when the North American Division voted to change from its defined benefits pension plan to a defined contribution plan. The changeover took effect January 1. Church retirees are drawing benefits from the old frozen plan while denominational employees are accruing benefits under the new plan. Under church policy, each conference sends nine percent of tithe to the retirement fund regardless of the number of retired employees it has.
All conferences pay more than the actual costs to fund their own employees.
The overage helps to pay benefits for expatriate employees and institutional workers. However, Regional presidents believe their overpayments have been extreme, considering that only four percent of denominational retirees on the plan come from Regional conferences and Oakwood College. In the 1940s, Frank Jones, Northeastern Conference treasurer, registered concerns about the inequities of the retirement plan, Bryant said. For years we were providing retirement dollars for jobs that Blacks had no access to. For 54 years we ve made appeals and requests.