Hospital pension plan not paying. (supplement, federal, states, retired)

[rocafeller05]

Long story short...

papers submitted months ago to collect pension. Everything ironed out and what not and was supposed to receive first check at end of April. Still no check. Call after call and finally someone said it would be here 1st week of June. Here we are June 18th and nothing. No one will return our calls including the hospital or union.

What would you do in this circumstance? Get an attorney involved asap? etc?



Money is getting tight.

Thanks!

[jenny1951]

Originally Posted by rocafeller05

Long story short...

papers submitted months ago to collect pension. Everything ironed out and what not and was supposed to receive first check at end of April. Still no check. Call after call and finally someone said it would be here 1st week of June. Here we are June 18th and nothing. No one will return our calls including the hospital or union.

What would you do in this circumstance? Get an attorney involved asap? etc?



Money is getting tight.

Thanks!

I assume you are on Long Island? Is the hospital a part of a larger health care system? It may be that you are looking at a few layers of administration, which may delay your first check.

[texdav]

Frist I would call the states attorney generals office. if they can't help the they can direct you to who has pension plan regualtion be it state ro federal.

[Ariadne22]

What is the experience of your coworkers? I've read on this board it can take up to six months to get a federal pension rolling AFTER retirement. I find that unbelievable.

If you are part of a large hospital system, it might take a long time. Ask around.

You could always pay a personal visit to your former employer's benefit office. They must have one.

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by Ariadne22

What is the experience of your coworkers? I've read on this board it can take up to six months to get a federal pension rolling AFTER retirement. I find that unbelievable.

That's not quite correct. It may take up to six months for the pension to be finalized, but interim payments usually begin 5-6 weeks after retirement; IOW, during the month following retirement, but not necessarily by the first of that month.

[Ariadne22]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

That's not quite correct. It may take up to six months for the pension to be finalized, but interim payments usually begin 5-6 weeks after retirement; IOW, during the month following retirement, but not necessarily by the first of that month.

I think these are what I remembered.

Originally Posted by pirates

I am a FERS employee who retired under VER. I got out at 53. According to my VER retirement package I am to start receiving my Special Supplement at my first retirement date which was when I turned 56 in November of 2011. It is now 4 months overdue. I have called 6 times and they keep saying it was sent up to the dept. that handles it. The last 2 times I called they took mt phone number and said they would get back to me. Never did.

And, this which bears out what you said about finalizing:

Originally Posted by Johanna25

I'm not good with FERS, I was CSRS, but I can tell you OPM is slow and it took them 6 months to finalize my pension payments.

Or this:

Originally Posted by vermonter16

I have spent some time reading the TSP website. This all came on suddenly...and everything has kind of snowballed. Husband survived a massive heart attack and a month later had quad bypass....he has suffered a lot of issues since and was put on FERS Disability Retirement back in February. We haven't received any payments from OPM, they are extremely behind and were told that something should go through in another few months if we're lucky.

[MadManofBethesda]

Ariadne,

Your first example is not on point because the individual has been retired for years and has been regularly receiving his pension. He is now eligible for a supplement to that pension and has been told that it might take a few months to process it. That is similiar to the initial finalization process and has nothing to do with receiving initial interim payments at retirement. (Coincidentally, my wife will be in the same position beginning next month as that is when she becomes eligible for the special FERS supplement.) As you noted, the second example supports my statement. There are 100 more examples of people saying the same thing on FederalSoup.

Your third example pertains to the special area of disability retirement and I am not familiar with the normal processing time for those actions and the additional paperwork that is required. However, I stand by my statement that for the vast majority of federal employees who retire under the regular provisions, OPM provides an interim pension check in the month following the month in which they retired.

[rocafeller05]

Yes, the pension will be from one of LI largest medical hospitals.


We are just a little wary because they have told us 3 different dates now and owe 1 whole month of payments. Now its like week 5 and no one from the benefit office or hospital will answer/return the calls. Were just going to have to show up at the office and demand a answer. We were thinking about the possibility of hiring a attorney to expedite the process.

[flyonpa]

How long ago did you leave the hospital? Were you working there 20? years ago,
Did they always have your current address. They may have sold you pension off to a Insurance company, If they have no way of contacting you, it just happens. So you might not be on there 'book' anymore. And with turn-over in HR staff the current HR Staff might have not information on the transfer, and it need to be researched. But go up the food chain. If the HR manager can't help, Go to the Top person in the hospital, Send him/her a email, then follow up in a day later with a phone call to find out what they are doing to help you. Then keep in contact every 2 day with his/her admin/assistant. Till its resolved.

[anifani821]

If this is a for-profit hospital owned by a large corporation, or a religiously affiliated hospital system, you may need to contact the corporate offices, not the local HR/Benefits person, to get this straightened out.

I don't know anything about LI hospitals and their governance/ownership. Just offering that suggestion in case it is applicable to your situation.