Pension Notes
January 2004
John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies

New England Pension Assistance Project: Ten Years of Advocacy
        In November 2003, the New England Pension Assistance Project (NEPAP) of the Gerontology Institute celebrated its tenth year of providing free pension counseling to seniors in our region. 
         In 1993, the Administration on Aging (AoA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded seven demonstration projects around the country to provide assistance to those who have questions or problems with their pensions.  The Gerontology Institute received one of the demonstration grants and in January 1994 began providing service to individuals in Massachusetts.
          Directed by Ellen Bruce, J.D., and managed by Jack Pizer, with the help of four volunteers, the Project quickly proved its usefulness.  Says Bruce, “This project has shown two things: how incredibly effective dedicated, intelligent volunteers can be and how much people need assistance in understanding and exercising their pension rights.  We should have projects like this throughout the country.”
           In 1998, based on the success of the Project’s work, the AoA awarded the Project additional grant funding to expand its services to the six-state New England region.  With the expansion came the need for more legal assistance, and Jeanne Medeiros, J.D., joined the Project as its legal coordinator.
For many clients, the NEPAP has ended long-standing frustration: “There is no doubt in my mind that for all my trying to collect a small pension from a multi-billion dollar corporation, I would never have realized results….  But the New England Pension Assistance Project interceded on my behalf, and as a result, I have finally received a check.”
The Project uses attorneys, law students, professional staff, and trained volunteer counselors to interview and investigate claims of beneficiaries.  Staffers help clients obtain documents explaining their pensions, fill out forms to apply for their pensions, locate bankrupt or defunct plans, and find proof of work histories and any other documents needed to claim a pension.

Support currently comes from the University of Massachusetts Boston, the U.S. Administration on Aging, the Boston Bar Foundation, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth.  

Project Cuts Through Red Tape
A 68-year-old retired truck driver, now living in New Hampshire, had worked for the same company for over 25 years.  He had belonged to one union – the International Brotherhood of Teamsters – for that same period.  But his pension numbers didn’t add up until he enlisted the help of the New England Pension Assistance Project, which has long experience in dealing with complex pension problems
The problem was that his first 14 years and 11 months were as a member of the Western Conference of Teamsters and the latter 11 years were with the New England Teamsters.  When he left California in 1972, he did not realize that he was one month short of vesting in the Western Conference pension plan. 
Nor did he realize that transferring to another branch of the union would mean that his years of service up to that point would not be covered under what was technically treated as a separate pension plan.
The Pension Assistance Project put forward the notion of “contiguous non-covered service,” and successfully argued that it applied to the driver’s work in New England.  The Western Conference accepted this argument, which allowed the driver to become vested under the California plan.  As a result, he now receives a monthly pension of $180 from the Western Conference of Teamsters.

Project has Room for One more
In late September 2003, the pension project a reluctant goodbye to Marjorie Murphy, a valued counselor for the projects since August 31, 1999. The project is lookin for a new volunteer to replace her.
           No previous experience with pensions or employee relations is required, just a willingness to learn and a willingness to commit two days a week to the project.  The Project’s counselors receive ample training and supervision.  Counselors are paid a stipend of $30 per day to defray expenses.
            To learn more about the position, please call Jeanne Medeiros, Regional Coordinator, at 617-287-7332