Employer Bankruptcy: Know Your Options!

Employer or corporation bankruptcy can negatively impact workers benefits and rights.  The U.S. Department of Labor offers these tips and resources.  Know the plan rules that govern the way your pension assets and health benefits are treated when the plan is terminated. The following documents contain valuable information about your health and pension plans and should be helpful to you. You should be able to obtain most of them from your plan administrator, employer, or union representative.

• Summary plan description - A description of your pension and health plan.

• Summary annual report (not available for some plans) - An annual summary of the plan’s finances that may contain names and addresses you may need to know.

• Earnings and leave statements - These are your pay stubs and may help you establish your employment dates, compensation, and contributions to a plan.

• Certificate of creditable coverage (available upon request even if you still have health coverage and provided automatically when your health coverage ceases) - A certificate of creditable coverage is a statement of your past health care coverage with your employer.

• Individual benefit statements showing how much money is in your retirement account (for individual account plans) or the value of your pension benefit (for defined benefit plans).