When a company goes out of business or otherwise divests itself of a
pension plan, the payment of all assets in the plan to all
employees. The allocation may occur in one of two ways. Either the employees receive everything they have personally paid in
premiums, plus
interest, or they receive a portion of their
benefits based upon what they would have been entitled to if the pension stayed active. In the latter option, employees paid more generally receive more than ones paid less.