Sometimes employers have difficulty finding “lost” participants. On the other hand, sometimes former participants have difficulty finding their “lost” pensions. This is a great article from the Journal of the Missouri Bar regarding a topic on which there has been very little written that I know of–“Tracking a ‘Lost’ Pension“:
Claiming a pension benefit for a retiree or older workers from a past employer or company no longer in business is difficult but not insurmountable. Federal law provides certain rights to pension claimants while federal and state agencies, along with the Internet, furnish records to help prove a claimant’s right to a pension. . . As the former director and managing attorney of the OWL Pension Benefits Project, I assisted individuals (usually age 65 and older and already receiving Social Security benefits) claiming pension benefits from a previous employer. Most of these retirement benefits were from defined benefit plans. Many of these companies had gone out of business, left the area, or merged with another entity. Moreover, many claimants did not keep documents evidencing past employment or participation in a pension plan. . .