Firm halted in bid to close pension scheme

A COMPANY hoping to be one of the first in the State to close a defined-benefit pension scheme for all existing workers has been told by the Labour Court it must enter talks to retain the scheme.

Vita Cortex wanted to close the scheme for 40 workers and move all existing staff into a new defined-contribution system.

The norm in Ireland to date has been that a company wishing to transfer to the defined-contribution scheme would maintain the right of existing staff to remain on the defined-benefit version. However, in Britain there have been a number of cases where the complete transfer has occurred.