Department of Energy (DOE) representatives briefed House Armed Services Committee staffers Thursday on a study of comparative pensions and cost-of-living increases given to retired workers from DOE facilities, according to the Savannah River Site Retirees Association (SRSRA).
The SRSRA said in an issue summary statement ahead of the meeting that this briefing follows two years of efforts by the group to obtain a “minor adjustment” to the current pension for Savannah River Site (SRS) retirees.
“Our request was 6.2% paid to retirees retiring prior to 1999 and targeted at the oldest and most infirm retirees in an amount that would amount from $35.00 to $111.00 a month,” SRSRA spokesman John Lindsay said Tuesday by email. The association has approximately 1,500 dues paying members.
John Veldman, former SRSRA chairman and current board member, said by phone before the meeting that his group proposed that flat dollar value increase for the pension adjustment – rather than a percentage increase – as a financially responsible way to benefit the oldest retirees.
According to the group, the pension for SRS workers was last boosted in 2002, for employees who retired before 1999. Inflation has increased by 30 percent since then, the group says.
Meanwhile, retirees of the Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories have received more than 22 percent in increases since 1999, SRSRA said, and DOE employees have seen more than a 22 percent increase since 2002.
Department headquarters did not support SRSRA’s pension adjustment proposal barring legislation directing a revision, the summary said, while appropriators said they would need additional information from DOE before moving forward with such a proposal.
As a result, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) proposed an amendment to the fiscal 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, the language of which was included in the legislative report, that required DOE to offer by Jan. 31, 2016, information including a comparison of cost-of-living adjustments since 2000 for DOE facility retirees – particularly those at nuclear security enterprise and environmental management sites in comparison to those of other DOE facilities; how those adjustments compare to other federal pension plans; and the impacts on site operations, workforce, and costs of adjusting pension plans that have not been adjusted for over 10 years.
Wilson’s proposed amendment noted that NNSA and DOE-EM employees “have been under financial strain due to fixed pension payments” and that SRS retirees in particular have not received a cost-of-living pension payment adjustment for roughly 15 years.
The total value of SRSRA’s proposal is $43 million, Veldman said, noting that it could be amortized over seven years.
Veldman said earlier this week that during the briefing DOE would likely express concern over the cost of pensions and cite funding issues as the reason not to take action. At that point, he said, SRSRA would work on a response to the findings of the DOE report and collaborate with other DOE sites to pursue legislative support for the proposal.
More details on the briefing are expected to be revealed next week.
A DOE spokesperson said by email, “The Department does not comment on meetings with congressional staff. The Office of Environmental Management regularly considers its pension liabilities for both active and retirees, balancing our mission obligations while ensuring that pensions are adequately funded.”
