Pitney Bowes Inc., the venerable postage machine manufacturer, is accelerating a previously announced pension plan freeze.
In late 2009, Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney Bowes announced that current plan participants would not earn benefits after Dec. 31, 2014.
But last week, the company disclosed that participants with less than 16 years of service as of March 31, 2013, will not accrue benefits after that date rather than Dec. 31, 2014. Effective April 1, the company will make a 2% annual automatic contribution to affected employees' 401(k) plan accounts.
That same 2% contribution will take effect on Jan. 1, 2015, for plan participants with more than 16 years of service.
The defined benefit plans have been closed to new employees since Dec. 31, 2004.
A federal bankruptcy court judge in New York on Wednesday approved American Airlines Inc. parent AMR Corp.'s request for permission to allow the airline to amend its frozen pilots' pension plan so that retiring pilots cannot receive their accrued benefits as a lump sum.