Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but it is unclear if the company will seek to have the two plans terminated, in which case PBGC would take control of the plans' assets. (Photo: iStock)

Most of the roughly 90,000 participants in Sears Holding Corporation's two frozen defined benefit plans would not see their monthly benefits reduced if the plans are terminated as part of bankruptcy proceedings, according to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

On Monday, Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but it is unclear if the company will seek to have the two plans terminated, in which case PBGC would take control of the plans' assets. The plans are underfunded by about $1.5 billion.

Recommended For You

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Nick Thornton

Nick Thornton is a financial writer covering retirement and health care issues for BenefitsPRO and ALM Media. He greatly enjoys learning from the vast minds in the legal, academic, advisory and money management communities when covering the retirement space. He's also written on international marketing trends, financial institution risk management, defense and energy issues, the restaurant industry in New York City, surfing, cigars, rum, travel, and fishing. When not writing, he's pushing into some land or water.