A more mobile society and the proliferation of corporate mergers also has contributed to companies and employees losing track of one another. The Tiburon, Calif., company locates missing employees for corporations, unions and state pension funds. As with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. list, some of the missing are retirees who could claim the money now, while others are people still of working age who didn't realize they were vested in a plan before moving on. They move, they forget. They know the hometown plant was closed and they figure their benefits are gone, too.
Consumers have to have heads up.
There are no teeth in the regulations, so they have to pay attention. Experts stress that the vast majority of plan participants get the benefits to which they are entitled. Most are notified of private pension money when they apply for Social Security benefits, thanks to a mechanism that requires employers to file that information with the Social Security Administration. And these days, more companies are letting workers take benefits with them when they leave, rolling them into other retirement accounts or paying the tax penalties and cashing out. Nevertheless, consumers who think they are missing out should check the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. list and otherwise try to track down their benefits.