Hank Investigates: Cashing In

This Vermont factory manager will get a hundred fifty dollars a week for the rest of his life.

Factory Manager
"I think it's just great"

Cambridge Architect
"It's a windfall, it's wonderful, I'm glad you called me."

So keep your eye on the list. We found there are more than ten thousand people due some cash. All earned a pension then moved to new jobs and forgot about their benefits.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"And they are owed how much money?"

Suzanne La Piana, PBGC
"About 19 million dollars."

That nineteen million dollars is from pension funds that were either under funded, closed or went bankrupt. When that happens, the federal government takes over, and puts the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation - the PBGC - in charge of the money.

Suzanne La Piana
"Our mission and goal is to find people who are owed defined benefit pension plans and to pay them when those benefits become due."

And there are dozens of companies in New England where ex-employees are owed their pension money! 61 in Massachusetts alone!

PBGC's job is to find the people who are owed that money. Problem is, some, like this woman we found who's owed hundreds of dollars, complain the PBGC isn't trying very hard.

Hank Philippi Ryan
"Why couldn't these people find you?"

Pauline
"I don't think they looked."

But we found Pauline in 4 phone calls, and in fact, we found lots of people like her!

Hank Philippi Ryan
"We found more than 800 dollars for you!"

Pauline
"I think that's great!"

In Orwell, VT and Lexington, MA; in Deep River, CT and Boston, Ma; welocated people owed pension money they never knew they had, until we called.

Chester
"No I did not I knew nothing about it."

Many -like Chester - wondered how it could be that the us government couldn't find them.

Chester
"If you owe the government money, taxes, whatever, they're going to find you one way or another, but it seems if they owe you money, they just take their sweet time."

The PBGC promo video shows their customer service staff. Part of their job is to locate lost pensioners. Two or three employees, we're told, look full time! But in the past year, with 10 thousand missing people, they only located about 350!

Hank Philippi Ryan
"People we've talked to say, 'You've found us, how come the government couldn't find us?' What's your answer to that?"

Suzanne La Piana
"My answer to that is that I'm happy you did find them."

Hank Philippi Ryan
"In our cases most of the people we talked to say they've never heard form you."

Suzanne La Piana
"Our customer service center is staffed with people and sometimes people do make mistakes."

But this is the US government! It has the FBI, it has the IRS, it has the Social Security Administration, all of which know everything about everyone! But does PBGC use those resources to pay people pensions? Apparently not!

Hank Philippi Ryan
"You don't use the Social Security Administration to find people?"

Suzanne La Piana
"I'll have to get back to you on that. I don't believe that it's one of our sources of information."

But if you think you might be owed money, you don't have to wait for PBGC to find you, just check this on-line list to see if there's a check for you. Otherwise, money from your years of hard work may stay in the governments pocket.

Pauline
"Unless you called me, I never would have known about it."

That could soon change: PBGC informed us today they have now started working with the Social Security Administration in a brand new program to find people owed benefits. To find out if you're eligible for PBGC funds on your own, check our website at whdh.com for a link to the pension fund information.

PBGC officials say, their best advice for employees is to avoid being missing in the first place! Always give former employers your forwarding address.