A lot of steps have been taken in recent years to prevent companies in difficult financial straits from raiding pensions. Sometimes people have left companies, and they have found that the money isn't there. Otherwise, the law is pretty straightforward as to what you can and can't do in terms of rolling over the money into another fund. I haven't heard a lot of stories yet. I'm sure they'll trickle down.
Some companies seem to have a handle on how to handle it better than others.
Some seem to give employees as much notice as possible and as much assistance as possible in finding other jobs. And then some companies just kind of close down and lay everyone off, and that's it. Obviously, the former is better than the latter. If you' re the one having to choose who gets laid off and who stays, it is important to have very clear criteria as to how that decision gets made. If you eliminate all the women or all the ethnic minorities or all the older workers, you're going to find yourself faced with a lawsuit.