There is no way for me to confirm that, but I got a tip that Nikon has discontinued their pension plan for their employees in the US. I was told that Nikon employees who haven’t turned 65 were offered a lump-sum buyout. Nikon will no longer offer a pension plan for their US employees (a pension plan is not a required benefit in the US and only a few companies are still offering it).
If anyone has more information on this rumor, please post a comment to this post or email me anonymously here.
Update #1 – I got a second confirmation that Nikon recently canceled their pension plan.
Update #2 – here is a clarification from a reader on what exactly means to have a pension plan canceled:
I do not know anything about Nikon’s pension plan but have been with a company (Kraft Foods) that dropped their plan. What you have earned is yours. They can not take it away from you. The pension can stop growing. For most pension plans the cost goes up very steeply the last few (5?) years of employment just before retirement. That is because pensions are typically paid on average salary for the last x years which is often highest just before your retire.
Update #3 – Sigma just followed in Nikon’s footsteps due to an over-budget headquarters remodel and a year overdue website update (overdue on the developer end). The only difference is that Sigma totals in something like 50 employees total, so letting 5 or 6 folks go is kind of a big deal.
Update #4 – the benefit has been removed from Nikon USA’s website:
Update #5 – here is a screenshot of the actual document confirming the cancellation of the pension plan:
