Retirement Security Law Commons^™

My Company Is Freezing The Pension Plan: What Does This Mean?, Pension Action Center, Gerontology Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Pension Action Center Publications

As employers move away from traditional defined benefit pension plans in favor of defined contribution 401(k) plans, the number of frozen pension plans is rapidly increasing. While most companies would like to rid themselves of their pension plan liabilities, more often than not, employers deem it too costly to terminate their existing plans and pay out all accrued benefits to participants and beneficiaries. As a result, instead of terminating their existing pension plans, many employers are electing to “freeze” their plans. Pension plans may be frozen using a “hard freeze” or a “soft freeze”. While both types of plan freezes …