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Pension irregularities
My pension portal indicates that my employer is not making twelve equal monthly payments to my pension account. My employer indicates that they are making payments and that the pension fund is not recording properly. I tend to believe the pension fund but I cant get documents to agree. HR has a history of mistakes with my pay (and a shaky record at best). I have been asking questions for about 26 months and have not received good answers from HR. My boss is supportive but expects HR to resolve it. My financial planner wants me to hire a forensic accountant and sue for records. I don’t want to lose my job or spend the money to sue. I am in an industry where even a lateral move means a major move for my family but failure to pay into my pension is a 20 year accumulation that won’t happen.
Any ideas on how to get records without becoming more of a problem employee? Has anyone worked with a forensic accountant? Any ideas about how to make the two entities work together. HR has been reluctant to do a video conference although I think my VP boss may insist.
I have a pension through a church agency that HR doesn’t want to keep around. The church pension is to my advantage, but I could join the other plan.
Rev70College chaplain
15
02/17/20 at 1:14PM UTC
Unfortunately my hotline goes to HR and the CFO.
[email protected]#girlboss #newlymintedceo
410
02/10/20 at 2:55AM UTC
This sounds like something I would report to a whistleblower hotline. Most companies have them and they are administered by a third party.
Rev70College chaplain
15
02/09/20 at 3:39AM UTC
Thank you. Last year they made 8 payments and 1 double payment, but the amount was consistently one twelfth. There is just no way what is coming out of my check is ending up in the pension.
Dawn S. CrossGoals should scare a little & excite a lot
1.12k
02/09/20 at 4:43PM UTC
I have a question - you say pension, but they take funds from your check. A pension is typically funded by the company with no contribution by the employee.
It sounds as if you are talking about a 401(k) or profit sharing plan since those have contributions by the employee (and often the employer).
If this is the case, there are government agencies for those as well.
A quick way to check on what you are contributing is to compare apples to apples. What are they withholding from your check and what is being deposited. If they match, then while their payroll practices are lax, they are taking the appropriate actions.
If they do not match, then that is a different story and you should go to the head of payroll about it.
Also one other thing to think about whether they do or don’t match is what are you losing in investment potential. The market is up - significantly so - and you could be losing growth income because of that.
I would go to HR and Payroll (maybe send a letter to both) and let them know that based on your research, due to the untimely contributions, you have lost out on investment income and you expect it to be made whole before going to an outside agency that will investigate.
You probably are not the only person in the company to experience this, maybe check around with close colleagues and see what they have experienced. Remember, there is strength in numbers.
Anonymous
02/17/20 at 1:14PM UTC
It is a traditional pension where I contribute 6%and the company contributes 9%. I have been working with HR and payroll for two years about irregularities but the president (I’m a direct report) didn’t force follow through. The CFO has failed me as well. I have spread sheets and documents, my calculations of what should be going in do not match the records of what is being sent, so I know there is a problem. I am ready to hire a forensic accountant but I have to sue to get the documents to audit or wait for HR to decide to help.
The progress this week was that HR admitted there might be a problem and agreed to get the paper records out of storage to see what they have really sent. I asked to be demoted last summer in part because reporting to a VP actually gets me more attention in HR.
It’s all a strategy. I am well aware that the compounding over the next 20 years is a huge loss. It’s so disheartening because I love my work.
Dawn S. CrossGoals should scare a little & excite a lot
1.12k
02/08/20 at 9:04PM UTC
Reach out to PBGC (https://www.pbgc.gov/) and ask to speak to someone to seek help. The PBGC is a government agency that protects your pension as an employee. They should be able to tell you what is taking place. I know from working with pensions in the past that some companies do not do monthly contributions, but either quarterly or yearly. Good luck!
© 2022 Fairygodboss. All rights reserved.