please help!

[daughter192003]

My dad has been working for a certain well-known company for nearly 25 years. He started at a lower position, and now (or up until a week ago) he is in a top-notch position. He made 150,000 a year and thus would have received a pension of about 2000 per month I believe. Last week, this company called him Monday to notify him that his position was being terminated, and Tuesday when he went to get his things from his office nobody was let inside. They "recreated" his severence package, making it nonexistent. After 25 years and and a great salary, he is now making nothing and receiving no help. Somebody please tell me there is a way to get this company to pay him either severence or a portion of his pension (as he was set to retire in about 5 years). I tried to read up on the 1974 ERISA but I could not understand the exact ramifications... Someone please help me. We cannot afford to live in the suburb that we do on just my mother's salary. Thank you!

[cbg]

There is no way to force the company to pay him severance, as it is not required by law. The ONLY way they would be legally obligated to provide severance would be either if he had a bona fide contract requiring it, or if he could prove that the only reason he did not receive a severance was due to his race, religion, national origin and so forth.

Pension is a different matter, but we do not have enough details to say what his options are. A great deal depends upon what kind of pension you are talking about. However, almost all pension plans are heavily regulated by Federal law. Depending on what kind of pension it is and also on how old your father is, the company may not be legally able to release any of the pension, or they may only be allowed to release some of it, or they may be able to release all of it but only with penalties withheld for early withdrawal and taxes deducted, or any number of permutations.

His best bet is probably to talk to an employment lawyer, who will be able to review any available documents and will be able to give him far more specific information than we can.

Has your father applied for unemployment? If not, he should do so.