Let them fire me (lose retiree med) or?

[CRLLS]

What if you announce your plans now, to retire on a date AFTER you qualify for retiree health care? Then decline the transfer to the new company. Heck, they may even rescind the offer. You will likely protect your health care benefits. What happens after that is up to you. Find another job, or possibly apply to the new company, expecting to be let go within a year. It may be at a higher pay level than if you transferred. They already have indicated they want you and they will lose that expertise if you retire.

 

[pacergal]

Definitely do what is needed to hang onto the retiree coverage. In our situation having Megacorp retiree coverage from age 60 until medicare is saving us about $120K. We can do a lot of fun traveling for that money .

+1
Same for us when we first retired.

 

[Sunset]

What if you announce your plans now, to retire on a date AFTER you qualify for retiree health care? Then decline the transfer to the new company. Heck, they may even rescind the offer. You will likely protect your health care benefits. What happens after that is up to you. Find another job, or possibly apply to the new company, expecting to be let go within a year. It may be at a higher pay level than if you transferred. They already have indicated they want you and they will lose that expertise if you retire.

I don't think the company wants the OP, more than anyone else.
More likely they are transferring entire departments to another company to shed the work and financial obligations.

The new company takes the workers, has them do their old job, and trains cheap replacements from offshore, then does the swap once the mandatory retaining period (1 year) is up and lays off most of the old staff.
The new company has less benefits and no pension plan available from the times I've seen.

 

[badatmath]

I don't think the company wants the OP, more than anyone else.
More likely they are transferring entire departments to another company to shed the work and financial obligations.

The new company takes the workers, has them do their old job, and trains cheap replacements from offshore, then does the swap once the mandatory retaining period (1 year) is up and lays off most of the old staff.
The new company has less benefits and no pension plan available from the times I've seen.

Correct. There are taking a big chunk of my large department and dumping us. I suspect we are the test case and remainder of the department is going to happen sooner rather than later.

 

[CincyDave]

OP, what is the cost of the retiree medical coverage? Same as you are paying now, or will it increase? My old company offered retire medical, but cost was based on years of service, not what you paid as an employee. As most replies here, I agree the retiree medical is a great thing to have unless the cost is prohibitive.

 

[badatmath]

More than current, but still not expensive $400/month (single).

 

[CRLLS]

I don't think the company wants the OP, more than anyone else.
More likely they are transferring entire departments to another company to shed the work and financial obligations.

The new company takes the workers, has them do their old job, and trains cheap replacements from offshore, then does the swap once the mandatory retaining period (1 year) is up and lays off most of the old staff.
The new company has less benefits and no pension plan available from the times I've seen.

I agree. However he may have value in training the others for that year. If that year is enough to get him to ER it is a win-win. If he has to work longer, it is probably best to just take the company retirement and look for meaningful employment elsewhere. My concern is if he doesn't take the move to the other company, he might get fired without reaching his qualifying time to get retirement benefits. By announcing retirement, I think he is fairly well protected. There is no guarantee.

 

[Sunset]

I agree. However he may have value in training the others for that year. If that year is enough to get him to ER it is a win-win. If he has to work longer, it is probably best to just take the company retirement and look for meaningful employment elsewhere. My concern is if he doesn't take the move to the other company, he might get fired without reaching his qualifying time to get retirement benefits. By announcing retirement, I think he is fairly well protected. There is no guarantee.

I was thinking by announcing retirement, then might just fire him today. I hadn't thought of that as a protection and have no idea. Maybe you are right, I'm no employment expert.

I think taking the job and losing the health benefit is a terrible choice, so my focus in this situation would be to keep the job for the remaining time (1 month?) and get the retirement benefit.

Maybe he needs to see a doctor and get a sick note and take sick leave for 1 month, then retire ? Or take a 4 week vacation and then retire. ?

 

[badatmath]

A lot of managers were not included in this offer. Not sure if that is because my employer is trying to protect them or the vendor only wants people who can do day to day work.

I do think ERISA has some protection if you have announced retirement but the whole getting fired today scares me. They will be displeased that I do not want the "opportunity". Until a few days ago they seemed fairly pleased with me gave me my raise and so on but that can change in a heartbeat.

 

[badatmath]

Bonuses offered by vendor are pretty high IMO if you stay a year but it makes me think less of them really because WHY. I guess because ST contract.

 

[FireBob]

One thing to double check is if the termination doesn't affect the retiree health benefits and possibly get it in writing. My company offers crappy retirement coverage, essentially same coverage just without employer paying anything, but it requires you be considered an employee in good standing. If you are terminated, you lose access to it.


As far as Ambetter, Oscar, etc, they are smaller insurance companies but fairly common. We see a decent amount of Oscar plans and a bunch of Ambetter which is covered by Sunshine Health in Florida or Superier Health Plan in some other states.

 

[CincyDave]

One thing to double check is if the termination doesn't affect the retiree health benefits and possibly get it in writing. My company offers crappy retirement coverage, essentially same coverage just without employer paying anything, but it requires you be considered an employee in good standing. If you are terminated, you lose access to it.


As far as Ambetter, Oscar, etc, they are smaller insurance companies but fairly common. We see a decent amount of Oscar plans and a bunch of Ambetter which is covered by Sunshine Health in Florida or Superier Health Plan in some other states.

Great point FireBob. I think mine was the same. Could be the difference of being fired "for cause" versus being laid off through no fault of your own.

 

[badatmath]

I had to come back to this thread to encourage myself that I am making the right choice as my coworkers think I am completely crazy.

I have a meeting with benefits person later this week to confirm it will work the way it appears.

 

[Koolau]

I had to come back to this thread to encourage myself that I am making the right choice as my coworkers think I am completely crazy.

I have a meeting with benefits person later this week to confirm it will work the way it appears.

DO have your list of questions all prepared. You don't want to forget anything.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

When do you qualify for the retirement benefits, a month, 2 months. a year?
Also how much unpaid vacation, personal time etc do you have available to you?

 

[Golden sunsets]

I had to come back to this thread to encourage myself that I am making the right choice as my coworkers think I am completely crazy.

I have a meeting with benefits person later this week to confirm it will work the way it appears.

I haven't commented before, but wanted to after this comment. You mentioned that you are uniquelythe in a position of gaining retiree health care if you decline? So if I'm correct, you are in a completely different position than your colleagues...... older,(or older AND within days/weeks of qualifying for retiree health).

 

[jazz4cash]

As I understand it, your department's work is being outsourced to a 3rd party and you either go and work for them or you lose your job because your current employer will no longer be doing your work in house.

Thanks, I had no idea what this was about. FWIW, I was a few months away from earning retiree medical when Megacorp sold off the division where I worked. Megacorp was generally well regarded as an employer. They gave us a lump sum that was supposed to offset the loss at retirement in 10-15 years. It went into the 401k and had to be divided over 2 yrs so as to not exceed the max contribution limit. The irony was that they ended up eliminating retiree medical for everyone and provided a monthly stipend instead. The lump sum I received was a far better deal. I would approach HR to see if they will discuss some form of compensation for the loss of retiree medical.

 

[Sunset]

I had to come back to this thread to encourage myself that I am making the right choice as my coworkers think I am completely crazy.

I have a meeting with benefits person later this week to confirm it will work the way it appears.

Write down your questions to have with you and remember the benefits person is not on your side. At best they are neutral.

 

[badatmath]

The fact they can cut the retiree health at any time is certainly a concern in making this choice! I am happy at least I do not have 401k loans or anything - I assume those become due right away.

 

[Sunset]

The fact they can cut the retiree health at any time is certainly a concern in making this choice! I am happy at least I do not have 401k loans or anything - I assume those become due right away.

Yes, retiree health can be cut at any time, but it's not a decision companies make lightly.

Yes 401K loans are due a short time after ending work.

 

[Koolau]

Yes, retiree health can be cut at any time, but it's not a decision companies make lightly.

Very true. Deleting health care from retiree benefits looks very bad for a company. Apparently, it looks worse than halting a pension or drastically limiting a pension. (Megacorp did the latter shortly after I left.)

Before I hit MC age, I was always concerned about Megcorp reneging on medical care supplementation. Every communication about retiree benefits, they reminded everyone that they could halt the program at any time. They DID change the plan twice after I retired, and both times, it ended up costing me more for medical care, pre MC. But the fear of being "naked" for medical insurance never materialized. Now, on MC, Megcaorp still helps with the MC supplement insurance, though it costs them relatively little. YMMV

 

[badatmath]

Now I just have to figure out if my pension can be deferred. Granted there is the small detail I have no money but possibly a year what with PTO payout.

 

[AgileCarbon]

Negotiate end day

Tell them you will only accept the offer if they let you stay in your current job until you qualify for the medical. They are playing dirty just to get out of paying the medical and you may have a legit age discrimination case.

I would not walk away from the medical. I retired in 2016 and the medical nearly killed me so I went back to work for a few years to top off my nest egg and retired again in 2020.

 

[Buckeye]

Tell them you will only accept the offer if they let you stay in your current job until you qualify for the medical. They are playing dirty just to get out of paying the medical and you may have a legit age discrimination case.

I would not walk away from the medical. I retired in 2016 and the medical nearly killed me so I went back to work for a few years to top off my nest egg and retired again in 2020.

The time to go see an employment attorney is now, not after the doodoo hits the fan.

 

[badatmath]

Thank you all for your support in this.

I am not specifically valuable in a situation that affects hundreds of people unfortunately.