Preserving Co-op Employee Benefits

The vast majority of NRECA’s members provide their employees with the NRECA-sponsored and administered ‘multiple-employer’ defined benefit (DB) pension plan (the Retirement Security Plan) under § 413(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Currently, over 870 individual rural electric cooperatives participate in the Retirement Security Plan, covering approximately 58,000 employees throughout the U.S.

Economic security in retirement is a leading concern for electric cooperative employees. They seek this security through a combination of government-provided, employer-provided, and personal sources: Social Security, Medicare, pensions, capital accumulation programs, personal savings, family transfers and employment, as well as employer-provided health and welfare benefits.

NRECA strongly believes that any reforms to any of these critical programs should continue to encourage workers to provide for their economic security through all of these and other vehicles for personal savings, and encourage employer-sponsored benefit plans.

News:

• Support H.R. 3936, the "Preserve Benefits and Jobs Act of 2009"
  December 29, 2009 – NRECA fully supports the "Preserve Benefits and Jobs Act of 2009" (H.R. 3936) that will prevent the Retirement Security Plan from being subject to any Deficit Reduction Contribution assessment in 2010 or 2011. more >>

• IRS Regulation Could Eliminate Long-Service Co-op Employees’ Retirement Benefit
  October 16, 2007 - While the IRS has granted temporary relief to NRECA from its May 21, 2007 Regulation that properly seeks to stop tax system abuses associated with "cash balance" retirement plans, a permanent solution is still needed. NRECA's "quasi-retirement" option is consistent with the purpose of promoting private pension plans and is not abusive of the tax system. Without change, the Regulation could cut retirement benefits for co-op employees with 30 years of dedicated service. more >>