According to House Majority Leader John Boehner, pension legislation now being debated and worked out by both members of the House and the Senate, will probably not protect companies that previously enacted cash balance plans.

Many companies including AT&T and IBM have already written to Congress requesting clarification to the age-discrimination standard for defined benefit plans that is currently providing the uncertainty for all existing and future cash balance plans. These companies were expecting and should expect a retroactive measure from Congress to end the litigation.

But based on what John Boehner is now saying, it doesn´t look like these companies are going to receive any relief in the form of retroactive measures to help them out.

Considering these companies instituted changes to their plans legally based on accepted practices, and policies, in my opinion Congress has a moral if not legal duty to help them out of this mess.

Boehner was quoted by Bloomberg as saying the idea of going back in retroactive fashion has met with stiff resistance in both the House and the Senate. Boehner said, "We are dealing with it, and there will be some agreement on this issue in the pension bill."

Irrespective of what the future of cash balance plans are, Congress needs to create a process for companies who implemented changes to their plans to the cash balance formula per acceptable guidelines, before a federal court´s 2003 ruling that a hybrid plan offered by IBM discriminated against older workers.  

If Congress does not honor its duty, shame on them!

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