Pensions

A judge approved a negotiated settlement Tuesday that strikes down President Clinton's use of the line-item veto to restrict federal workers' choices of pension plans. In a brief hearing, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan adopted an agreement between the Justice Department and the National Treasury Employees Union that invalidated the veto and restores federal employees' ability to switch pension systems later this year.

There's an ominous rumble in the financial world. It warns that retirement is likely to hit many Americans like an oncoming train. Social Security is waning. Monthly pension checks are drying up. Americans are living longer and not saving enough. Surveys are done nearly every month, with some bank, mutual fund company or government agency trumpeting the results: At today's rates, poverty and retirement may become synonymous.

As Congress and the White House prepare to debate Social Security reform, new ideas of risk and reward for workers could lead to the most dramatic changes in the massive retirement program since its creation in 1935. In particular, the Clinton administration is considering whether to endorse giving workers personal choice over the investment of some of their payroll taxes.

In a year of heroic performances--when the most sacred record was utterly demolished, when fans returned to the ballparks and players became heroes again--baseball continues to disappoint John Puttock. He still loves the game, but when he thinks of the money that the players, the owners and anyone connected to baseball are making, he talks about an industry that has lost its heart.

Wilma V. Haga, a 76-year-old widow, and Bernice Meyer, a home care aide who will have no retirement check other than Social Security, on Tuesday asked President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore to keep the massive federal program sound and strong for future generations of beneficiaries. With $915 a month in Social Security benefits, "I can live very well, independently and . . . without assistance from my sons," Haga, from Bristol, Tenn.

While the incomes of most American households have remained stubbornly flat over the last three decades, the elderly have seen their financial circumstances improve dramatically, far outpacing every other demographic group, the Census Bureau reported Monday. An analysis of household income from 1969 to 1996 showed a 57% rise in real median income for married couples older than 65, dwarfing the 6.3% increase for all households.

AT&T Corp. and two unions representing about 50,000 employees said they have reached a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. In a joint statement, the long-distance phone giant, the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said wages and pensions would improve along with the introduction of a performance-based incentive plan for union members. Under the pact, wages would increase every six months, totaling 2.88% in the first year and 3.

The Army's former top enlisted soldier will get full retirement pay despite his conviction for obstructing justice in a sexual harassment case, the Pentagon said Monday. A military jury reduced Gene C. McKinney by one rank to master sergeant and cut his pay after his conviction in March. Six military women accused the former sergeant major of the Army of groping them or using his position to pressure them for sex. He was acquitted of 18 of 19 charges.

A divorced person who takes an early retirement buyout to avoid a layoff must share the money with a former spouse--even if the marriage ended years earlier, the California Supreme Court held Thursday. The court ruled in favor of a Northern California woman, saying she was entitled to part of her former husband's early retirement package even though he obtained it 14 years after their divorce.

Marriott International Inc. won't get support for its dual-class stock plan from California's and New York's public pension funds, which want the hotel company to drop the plan because it only helps members of the Marriott family. The Washington-based manager of hotels will let shareholders vote on the plan at its annual meeting May 20 in Arlington, Va.