Migliaccio & Rathod LLP is investigating whether IBM pension participants lost important pension protections when their benefits were transferred from an employer-sponsored pension plan to a private insurance company through a pension risk transfer transaction.
Reported Issues
Pension participants report concerns about:
- Being moved from an employer IBM Pension plan into an insurer-backed group annuity.
- Losing PBGC protections that applied before the pension transfer.
- Not being given meaningful input before the transfer.
- Not receiving clear disclosures about state guaranty-association limits.
- Concern that plan fiduciaries may not have selected the safest available annuity provider.
Large employers increasingly use pension risk transfer transactions to move defined-benefit pension obligations to insurers, and MetLife describes pension risk transfer as a way for companies to mitigate pension risk through insurer solutions. MetLife also reported in 2025 that 95% of defined-benefit plan sponsors with de-risking goals were considering transferring pension risk to an insurer within the next five years.
Why Individuals Should Be Concerned
Potential claims include:
- ERISA fiduciary breach
- Failure to prudently select an annuity provider
- Inadequate notice
- Loss of PBGC protection
- Failure to evaluate insurer solvency
- Economic loss from reduced pension protections
Signs You May Be Affected
- Your IBM pension was transferred to an insurance company.
- You received a notice that your pension benefit would be paid through a group annuity.
- You were not clearly told what protections you lost.
- You were not informed of state guaranty-association limits.
- You believe your pension was transferred without adequate review of insurer safety.
If you have encountered these issues, we would like to hear from you. Please complete the contact form on this page, send us an email at [email protected], or give us a call at (202) 470-3520.