UNCLAIMED PENSIONS/REFUNDS

Experts estimate that as many as 5% of Americans who are due pension benefits are not receiving them. These are people who got new jobs, moved or remarried and changed their names, never bothering to notify former employers of their whereabouts. The bottom line is that millions of dollars of retirement checks are going unclaimed. To see if you may be entitled check out www.kantrowitz.com. This website will also lead you to other government cites for refunds. HUD and SSA also have websites for locating unclaimed checks at www.hud.gov and www.ssa.gov. Workers might not realize that they were accruing benefits because they worked for a small employer who didn't do a good job of communicating plan benefits or they may have lost track of an employer that was purchased or merged into another company. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. at www.pbgc.gov operates an online search tool for lost pensioners whose plans were taken over by regulators because the company filed for bankruptcy protection or dissolved its plan. In 1984 a law was passed to protect spousal rights under pension law. Surviving spouses of individuals who earned a pension after that point also could be due benefits.

Today, most plans require five years of employment to become vested in, or fully entitled to, a company pension. However, before the mid-1980s, it typically took 10 years; and before the Employee Retirement Income Security Act was passed in 1975, many companies provided pensions only if you worked for them until you retired. Thus, the older the work history, the less likely you are to have a vested pension. If you're certain you're owed a pension, but you can't find the company or can't persuade the benefit's representatives to help you, contact a pension-counseling project. There are 10 such projects nationwide. In California, the Pension Rights Project is in San Francisco and can be reached toll-free at (800) 474-1116. [Source: RSO Fort Douglas UT Newsletter Aug 02]

VA NURSING CADET YOUTH VOLUNTEER PROGRAM

Did you know that…

Nursing is one of the 10 occupations projected to have the largest numbers of new jobs?

Nurses' salaries are above average?

There are many opportunities for financial assistance for further education once employed at a VA facility?

As a VA Nurse Cadet:

You will have the opportunity to experience direct patient care on our inpatient units.

You will receive up to 5 hours of basic orientation and training in certain nursing support tasks. You are only required to perform those tasks for which you have been trained to ensure your own and the patients' safety.

You can work in our Manhattan, Brooklyn or St. Albans (Queens) sites.

Requirements:

• A signed parental consent form.
• A skin test for TB, which our VA facility Employee Health Service can provide on the day of orientation.
• Minimum age to participate is 14 years.

Aurita Waterman, RN, MSA, CNA, Patient Services Nurse Recruiter for VA NYHHS, at (917) 758-9981 or Celeste Chambers, Program Assistant, at (212) 686-7500 x3951. Information on the program can be found on the VA NY/NJ Veterans Healthcare Network web site.

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