“No act of Congress can ever fully respond to the egregious harm that has been caused to thousands of Oregonians by the collapse of Enron, but I believe that something must be done to help recoup some of the lost pension savings,” said Wyden. “The Catch-Up Lost Retirement Savings Act is a small but important step that Congress should take to help employees begin to catch-up on their retirement savings.”

In June 1997, Enron took over PGE and two years later merged the PGE employee 401(k) retirement plan with its plan, allowing employees to contribute up to 15 percent of their income and receive a company match in Enron stock. By 2000, Enron stock was trading at $85 per share and many PGE employees were enticed to invest 100 percent of their 401(k) contributions in Enron stock. When the value of Enron stock began to plummet in 2001, PGE employees were locked out from changing their 401(k) accounts and selling their Enron shares. By the time employees regained access to their accounts, an Enron share was worth less than $10 and many retirement accounts were completely wiped-out. Enron filed for bankruptcy in December 2001.

Although Congress passed legislation this year designed to prevent executives and accountants from misrepresenting a company’s financial strength through disingenuous certified financial statements, little has been done to assist employees who took a direct financial hit because of the financial misdeeds of the company.

“Senator Ron Wyden has been very cognizant of the impacts the Enron theft has had on Oregon men and women. The Senator’s ‘Catch-Up’ on behalf of the Portland General Electric employees is much appreciated,” said Bill Miller of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 125. “There is no legislative fix that will ever make these workers whole, but it certainly helps to know that someone cares and is willing to fight for them.”

Wyden’s bill would benefit employees whose employer offers at least a 50 percent match on pension plan contributions and either files for bankruptcy or was the subject of an indictment or conviction resulting from business transactions related to financial misdeeds. By allowing employees to triple the amount they can invest in IRAs and giving them a 50 percent tax credit on that amount for five years, the bill offers the opportunity and incentive for employees to begin rebuilding their retirement accounts at a more accelerated rate than would otherwise be possible.

“The tax credits and catch-up payments being proposed by Senator Ron Wyden offer a real-world solution and welcome relief for someone like me who has suffered a 401(k) plan loss because our parent company went bankrupt,” said George Kuiawa, manager of retail receivables at PGE, an independent subsidiary of bankrupt Enron Corp.

In addition to introducing the bill to help PGE employees catch up on lost retirement savings, Wyden is also working to protect those same employees from high administrative fees being assessed to their accounts. In a letter to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Wyden questioned the Labor Department’s selection of State Street Bank and Trust company as the independent fiduciary for the Enron pension plans. State Street will charge approximately $4.3 million in fees and expenses for providing the service. Of that amount, $2.8 million will be charged against the Enron Savings Plan and ultimately paid for by the same plan participants, including PGE employees, whose retirement savings were wiped out when Enron went bankrupt.

“I am concerned about the impact of the fee assessment on individuals’ 401(k) plan accounts,” Wyden wrote in the letter to Chao. “As you know, many employees lost tens of thousands of dollars in their 401(k) accounts. For many of these individuals, the loss of their 401(k) plan savings has dramatically changed their lives for the worse. I believe these victims have suffered enough.”

In the letter, Wyden requested information regarding how State Street was selected, how the fees were negotiated and what criteria was used to determine reasonableness, whether the Labor Department considered the financial impact of 401(k) plan participants, and what steps the Labor Department is taking to educate individuals regarding how the fee assessment will impact the value of their individual 401(k) accounts.

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