Received a "Potential Private Retirement Benefit" letter from Social Security? How to decode the letter and who to contact, if necessary:
Potential Benefit letter
If you have paper stock certificates. What to do:
Stock Certificates
DEC sale to Compaq. Due to declining growth and
profits -- including losses starting in 1990 and a $2.8
billion loss in 1992 -- DEC stock was down to $45 -- from
$199 four years earlier.
Management and board negotiated the sale for a 26% premium.
Announced Jan 26, 1998; completed on Jun 12, 1998.
HP Breakup. On Nov 1, 2015, the legal name of the Hewlett-Packard Company was changed to HP Inc.
and a new, completely separate company – Hewlett Packard
Enterprise (green-rectangle logo; no hyphen) – was spun out. Portions of HPE were later spun out into DXC and Micro
Focus:
HP Breakup
Make sure that the legal successor to every company you
ever worked for has your current postal address.
Even if not classified by the company as a "Retiree" or
if long gone -- in case of pension plan changes, employment lawsuits,
settlements, or other issues. Update address at former
company
Which HP-related companies have me classified as a retiree or former employee?
Due to acquisitions and spinoffs, this may not be obvious. Check here:
Which Company
Info and contacts for those from:
Compaq
Contacts at HP Inc. -- the successor company:
HP contacts
Service at predecessor companies. Of the many
predecessor companies, only HP, DEC, and EDS ever had U.S.
pension plans. Only HP and DEC ever had U.S. retiree
healthcare plans. Over the years, the companies set aside money in
a dedicated trust fund for each plan. The benefits
originally promised assumed continued high profit
levels. Each plan was eventually closed to new participants.
Employees of other acquisitions
did not have those expectations and there were no plans --
with associated trust funds -- to pass on to an acquiring
company.
As employees were added to the retirement plans in effect at
the time of acquisition, they did not get credit
for service at
the predecessor. However, they generally did get service credit for
other benefits, such as vacation/FTO.
Pension:
- US Pension change. If you have been receiving monthly
U.S. HP, DEC, or EDS pension payments that commenced on or
before November 1, 2020 -- your pension is probably among
the 41,000 converted in September 2021 from a company pension administered by Fidelity to
an insured annuity provided by Prudential. Details:
hpalumni.org/pension2021
-
If you were employed by DEC prior to Mar 1, 1996: You may
have a benefit under the HP Cash Account Pension Plan.
Plan details in this HP document, which may be out of date:
2008 HP CAP Summary Plan Description
The current SPD takes precedence over any other written,
online, or verbal information you may have been given -- but
is still subject to change. The employer's plan
administrator is required by law to provide the SPD upon
request. How to obtain and decode:
https://www.hpalumni.org/SPD-decode
- The HP Retirement Service Center is the primary administrator for HP Inc U.S. pension and 401(k) accounts,
including any accounts for companies that Hewlett-Packard acquired before Nov 1, 2015 (Compaq, DEC, EDS, etc.)
Operated by Fidelity Investments.
1-800-457-4015 (If no password, keep hitting #.) (Outside US 1-508-787-9902 collect.)
https://nb.fidelity.com (Members advise that local Fidelity offices are focused on sales.)
- Benefits depend on the choice the employee made. At
various times available pension options may have included
lump sum, monthly payment, reduced monthly payment with
survivor benefit, etc.
- UK Pension -- HP, DEC, EDS. HP Limited Retirement Benefits Plan,
administered by Equiniti.
https://hprbp.com Independent
UK HP Pension Association
- DEC UK Pension. Issue for those with
pre-1997 service under the original DEC UK pension plan -- a
defined-benefit plan.
Involves retirees from many UK and multinational companies:
“...there could be as many as 500,000 pensioners who have
not received discretionary increases over many years.”
British IT news site:
8/17/23 Register article
Pensions Ombudsman Determination 2014 Parliament:
Early Day Motion 07 March 2024
Independent UK HP Pension Association
From UK HP Pension Association to Work & Pensions Select
Committee:
11/8/23 Submission Being discussed on this Facebook group:
"Digital UK Remembered"
[By
contrast: The HP U.S. defined-benefit pension plans -- which were closed to new
participants in 2003 and 2006 -- never had cost-of-living
increases. Compaq never had a pension plan.]
For details of a U.S. employer retirement or health plan,
obtain a copy of the legal Summary Plan Description ("SPD"). Log into the plan administrator's website or call. They are required by law to provide the SPD upon request. The current SPD takes precedence over any other written, online, or verbal information you may be given -- but is still subject to change.
How to use an SPD
Retiree Health Program:
- We have a copy of HP's official table to
determine if you are qualified for health coverage.
hpalumni.org/Pre2003
- Call the HPInc
Benefits Center: (Alight) 1-800-890-3100. (Outside US,
Puerto Rico, Canada 1-847-883-0465) Alight
Ask for a "Retirement Specialist"
-
Annual Benefits Enrollment. Details and advice from
members:
https://www.hpalumni.org/Annual
-
Why HP group plan costs are going up.
hpalumni.org/health-cost
-
Join the
HPAA Benefits Forum Covers topics such as COBRA and
retiree health benefits, annual enrollment, and transition
to Medicare.
Stock:
- Compaq acquisition of DEC: For each share of DEC
owned on June 11, 1998, DEC shareholders received $30.00 in
cash and 0.945 share of Compaq stock. DEC stock was
retired. Source:
SEC 8K filing
- HPAA's Complete Stock Decoder Tables for:
DEC
Compaq
- You may now have stock in HP, HPE, Agilent, Keysight, or
DXC in various accounts – and may not have received cash payouts for Micro Focus and Perspecta.
Due to spinoffs and splits, current cost basis depends on when you acquired each block of shares. Members have found that plan administrators, transfer agents, and brokerages vary significantly in how (or if) they track gain/loss and cost basis for the many complex HP-related stock events -- and what (if anything) they report to the IRS.
Stock Recovery and Cost Basis
Employment verification and experience letters for
Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and related
companies.
Employment and Experience Verification
For those in the workforce, select the links below that fit your
situation...
- Current HP or HPE employee:
Networking and Information.
- HP or HPE employee in the process of leaving or being laid off:
ASAP
checklist.
Update and strengthen your LinkedIn profile. Even if not currently looking for a job, you need a strong, credible LinkedIn profile.
Reconnect with people who know you and your work. Be found by recruiters. Strengthen your profile to be
found by recruiting bots. Profile changes have been made without notification, making some look fake.
hpalumni.org/LinkedIn
Reconnect, celebrate the good times, and appreciate those who have
passed.
There are many HP-related social groups on
Facebook, including: HP,
DEC, Tandem, and Compaq. Private, independent online forums
operated and moderated by people from each community. Leading
HP-related Facebook groups:
https://www.hpalumni.org/facebook
The DEC Connection is an independent association of former
DEC employees:
DEC
Connection
UK: Independent UK HP Pension Association:
http://www.hppa.org.uk
Dexodus is an independent association of former UK DEC
employees:
https://dexodus.uk
DEC history and culture
https://www.hpalumni.org/DEC-History.htm
Question? Email:
info@hpalumni.org