The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a wholly-owned government corporation that administers the pension insurance program pursuant to Title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1301-1461. If a sponsoring employer is unable to pay pension benefits when due, the pension plan will be terminated and PBGC will most likely become trustee of the plan and pay the benefits under the plan, subject to certain statutory limits.

Pension Plan Participants – more than 43 million

Premium Payers (companies sponsoring the pension plans) – 38,000

Pension Practitioners (attorneys, accountants, actuaries)

Of the three groups in our eligible service population, only pension plan participants face barriers because of their limited English proficiency; premium payers and pension practitioners are not generally LEP persons.

Across all pension plans, Spanish-speaking LEP persons are about 10% of PBGC’s eligible service population. In a particular plan, Spanish-speaking LEP persons may be as numerous as 100% of the plan’s population. Occasionally, we are contacted by LEP persons who speak languages other than Spanish.

PBGC’s eligible service population does not have constant contact with PBGC’s program. Rather, the contact occurs because of specific events such as a plan’s termination and trusteeship, or the participant’s application for retirement benefits.

The guaranteed pension benefits that PBGC pays to our eligible service population are typically a significant portion of their retirement income. Thus, access to our insurance program is very important to most of our population, and inaccessibility could cause severe hardship both immediately and in the long-term.

PBGC has the resources necessary to give its eligible service population meaningful access to its programs.

Current Access: The following services are now available in Spanish:

• PBGC’s Customer Service Center (1-800-400-7242) has a recorded message in Spanish and gives the caller the option of speaking with a Spanish-speaking representative;
• All form letters discussing a participant’s guaranteed benefit have been translated into Spanish;
• Participant Town Hall meetings, normally held after the plan’s termination and trusteeship, are conducted in Spanish if required;
• PBGC’s most frequently-requested brochures are published in Spanish;
• PBGC’s Insurance Operations Department has appointed a Spanish Language Liaison to coordinate the delivery of services in Spanish;
• PBGC’s Appeals Board can respond to participant appeals in Spanish.

Future Access: The following services will be available in Spanish:

• Brochures and other general information on our web site;
• Customer Service Center letters confirming a participant’s request, for example, to change the participant’s address;
• A notice in the semi-annual participant newsletter saying the newsletter is also available in Spanish.

The following service will be available for languages other than Spanish:

• PBGC will contract with AT&T’s Language Line for interpreter services and advertise its availability to our eligible service population.

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