Delta Moves to Cash Balance Plan
The ailing Atlanta-based air carrier announced in a press release that its move to the frequently controversial cash-balance arrangement as of June 30, 2003 should save it about $500 million over five years compared to the current plan.
The company is trying to slash $2.5 billion in costs from 2003 to 2005; it has already cut $1 billion, Delta said.
In a cash-balance plan (technically considered a defined benefit plan) employees get individual accounts and are generally provided regular statements showing their account’s value. The employer credits the employee’s account with income based on a pre-determined formula.
New Workers to Get Only Cash-Balance Option
In its announcement, Delta said:
- current employees as of June 30 will have a seven-year transition to the new plan until June 30, 2010. During that time, the workers will earn either the current plan benefit or the cash balance benefit, whichever is greater. That should mean current workers wouldn’t get hurt by the transition, Delta said.
- employees hired after June 30, 2003 will get only the new cash-balance program.
The cash balance retirement benefit will be equal to the
value of the account and can be taken as a lump sum or an
annuity whenever the employee leaves Delta, even if that
occurs before retirement, the company announcement
said.
“As Delta works to recover from the current financial
crisis, the company must act to control the high and
rapidly growing costs of retirement benefits while
protecting the interests of Delta people,” said Bob Colman,
Delta executive vice president – Human Resources, in the
statement. “Unless these steps are taken, Delta’s
retirement expenses would increase at an unsustainable
rate.”
Potential Problems
Cash balance arrangements have come under fire in recent years because of several potential problems :
- older workers can end up with less since benefits generally accumulate evenly throughout a career. So, a person with 20 years to accumulate benefits will get more than one with five.
- actuarial assumptions made during the conversion could reduce a participant’s benefits.
- many employers undergoing a plan conversion have communicated poorly with employees about the benefits they can expect.