When employees are given information about how their benefits will function throughout their term at a company, they expect to receive nothing less than they were promised. In situations where retirement benefits such as pensions, 401K’s and other options are available to people in New Jersey, they often pay their dues to receive their entitlements upon their retirement.
However, a concerned group of former employees who have retired from a mine in Montana is facing uncertainty with the payment of their pensions following an announcement that the Kemmerer coal mine where they used to work has filed for bankruptcy. After restructuring plans were announced and it was determined that $1.5 million would be saved for bonuses throughout the bankruptcy period and that nearly $6,000 would be reserved for the retainment of upper-level managers, union leaders demanded that other solutions be arranged to protect the retirement plans of previous employees who sacrificed decades of work to build a savings they anticipated would last them throughout their later years.
Defendants of the proposed restructuring plan have disclosed that despite previous promises made in regards to pension plans, the changes in the economy have taken a negative toll on the mine and have rendered the company unable to maintain the initial terms of its contract with the pension-seekers in question.
If people are facing the consequences of bankruptcy, they may wish to hire an attorney for help. Legal professionals have what it takes to educate people about their options when filing for bankruptcy.
Source: Billings Gazette, “Retired from Kemmerer coal mine, workers plead for pensions in company bankruptcy,” Heather Richards, Dec. 1, 2018
