Ok for some, not for others....

[bbbamI]

After 22 years, DH got word from Mega Corp that his job will be going to another co. Since he will be taking the job, and he is so close to retirement, he will be eligible for pension and med bennies when he reaches retirement age from Mega Corp. Others were not so lucky...there are a lot of them.

The reason he gets to keep his pension and bennies is because he will be providing the same service to Mega Corp that he is now. Anyone else seeing this type of thing? The company is not an overseas business.

I'm racking my brain wondering if we should do anything before this takes place. Seems strange to say "well, I'm 53 and I've been at my job for 3 months.

You just never know when something is going to come up and bite you in the @ss.

 

[W2R]

After 22 years, DH got word from Mega Corp that his job will be going to another co. Since he will be taking the job, and he is so close to retirement, he will be eligible for pension and med bennies when he reaches retirement age from Mega Corp. Others were not so lucky...there are a lot of them.

The reason he gets to keep his pension and bennies is because he will be providing the same service to Mega Corp that he is now. Anyone else seeing this type of thing? The company is not an overseas business.

I'm racking my brain wondering if we should do anything before this takes place. Seems strange to say "well, I'm 53 and I've been at my job for 3 months.

You just never know when something is going to come up and bite you in the @ss.

Sounds like he will be fine. I can see why this would be pretty unsettling, though! Glad he can keep his pension and bennies (hopefully including uninterrupted health insurance). How about vacation time earned, or other leave?

 

[HFWR]

You just never know when something is going to come up and bite you in the @ss.

I think one should assume that this will happen to everyone at some point, and plan accordingly.

I fully expected it to happen to me, but was surprised it happened when it did. I was hoping for 2-3 more years...

 

[bbbamI]

Sounds like he will be fine. I can see why this would be pretty unsettling, though! Glad he can keep his pension and bennies (hopefully including uninterrupted health insurance). How about vacation time earned, or other leave?

There will be no lapse in the health insurance. He'll get the vacation time paid or he can use it (whatever has been accrued this year). The other co has decent vacation days and since he plans on working just a year and a half longer, vacation days are not critical.

I know that we are fortunate, but it's one of those wha wha what? situations.

 

[bbbamI]

I think one should assume that this will happen to everyone at some point, and plan accordingly.

I fully expected it to happen to me, but was surprised it happened when it did. I was hoping for 2-3 more years...

Yeah, we were surprised too even though we knew sh*t happens. We could do ok without the pension, but the health ins is another matter. I guess we'll hope that Mega Corp keeps their promises, if not ER for him will have to come later.

 

[Animorph]

My DW was a fraction of a year away from being able to join the company medical plan during retirement (although we'd have to pay 100%) when her group was spun off the main company. That would have been a nice backup at least. While she did get some pension, it was frozen at the time of the spinoff, so she's missing those important final years that boost the payout significantly.

The last time I voluntarily changed jobs was in 1985. Since then the company was sold to another, the group I was in was sold to a third company, and that company was bought by a fourth. Then that company decided to get out of the business and let us all go (which luckily fit into my FIRE plans quite nicely since my years of service dated back to 1985!). Many of those employees that were let go are starting a new company. During all of this, our local company offices were closed and I've been telecommuting out of state for a few years.

Yeah, it's normal in tech at least.

Dan

 

[megacorp-firee]

Before I left megacorp, where btw, when I joined, I thought I would stay until I died (you know, one of those cradle to grave things). Very paternalistic, ...blah blah blah... well fast forward 20 years and BAM, megacorp isn't doing so well. [-]Layoffs[/-] Downsizing started, ...etc. No one was ever the same. For the last 10 years even the most confident (my favorite retort to threats was ' Hey, I was looking for a job when I found this one '...) of w*rkers was looking over his/her shoulder.

So, yes, you better get used to it. My colleagues got used to hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. The worst never came for many of us, but unfortunately the best never did either. Welcome to the new corporate [-]America[/-] 'Global'.

 

[jIMOh]

I have worked for 11 years, and have had 4 employers. 4 401ks. 4 health plans. Only 1 interview and up until November, only 2 bosses.

Company was bought out, merged, or sold off 3 times. Had a pension when one of those employers was EDS- then when EDS sold us, I got a rollover IRA started. At last sell off, they let us roll the 401k into an IRA, so I have control over more of the money as well.

It is the way of the world, I doubt too many people will work for only one company name in their life. I am on #4 and am working with many of the same people I started with 11 years ago.

 

[mh]

After 22 years, DH got word from Mega Corp that his job will be going to another co. Since he will be taking the job, and he is so close to retirement, he will be eligible for pension and med bennies when he reaches retirement age from Mega Corp. Others were not so lucky...there are a lot of them.

The reason he gets to keep his pension and bennies is because he will be providing the same service to Mega Corp that he is now. Anyone else seeing this type of thing? The company is not an overseas business.

I'm racking my brain wondering if we should do anything before this takes place. Seems strange to say "well, I'm 53 and I've been at my job for 3 months.

You just never know when something is going to come up and bite you in the @ss.

Make sure you get some (hopefully signed) paper document
stating the pension and bennies carryover. Something that provides you
some traceability.

things may show up for and look correctly accounted for now,
but if next year. Mega corp gets bought or merges with Uber mega corp
or some other adminstrative fiasco like that, you need to
make sure you have way to right things when they go FUBAR.

I bring this up because, I've seen something similar like this happen
to a friend.

 

[lucija]

...You just never know when something is going to come up and bite you in the @ss.

So true…

When I first started working at my current job (right out of college), I was amazed at the dedication, work ethic and pride in their work people around me radiated. Nothing was impossible to accomplish and no amount of work was too much, when needed to get the job done right. It was also true, everyone working there expected to have a well paying stable job for life (or at least as long as they wanted one).

And then it started… it looked as though they installed a revolving door to the CEO office, we were sold off a few times, we said good-bye to traditional pension and (for most of us) retiree health benefits. We entered 7 year long (still on-going) stretch of cycling between targeted and aggressive/sweeping layoffs. Our count now is about 1/5 of the original total. Most folks were totally taken by surprise (dear in the head lights image comes to mind). I have seen cases where husband & wife were let go on the same day (this is one mistake we’ll never make), single pregnant women and/or people few days shy from pension eligibility were being let go. Some would cry, some were handling it OK. Some had to move, some lost their homes (or were forced to downsize). As time went on, notice period as well as the severance package, were rapidly shrinking.

In retrospect, I am very thankful this has happened early on in my career. I, at least, could adjust my expectations easily. I now expect far less from my employer and I fully expect to be let go at some point in my work life.

However, good things happened as well as a result of this as well… We have re-evaluated our priorities and lifestyle choices. We’re working at reducing dependency on our jobs and eventual FI. We were able to establish a healthy life vs. work balance early on (knowing that my employer really could care less about my well being, has made it easy to say “no” to things making our jobs completely miserable).

As a side note, I found it very hard to work in an environment where one is surrounded by doom & gloom and bitterness with constant countdowns to retirement eligibility echoing all around. Luckily, I no longer have a problem – for the last few years I have been telecommuting 100% of the time… from my perspective, I still have a job, I like people I work with, I can telecommute, pay is not bad, our 401(k) kicks @ss – so, life is really not that bad!

 

[utrecht]

This makes me happy to be an underpaid government employee (police officer). Job security.