Participants will receive no further accruals under the defined-benefit pension plan or supplemental pension plan, which should yield cash savings of roughly $6 million for the current fiscal year, according to a news release.

On February 5, Hingham, Massachusetts-based Talbots announced it was suspending matching contributions to the company’s 401(k) plan while increasing health care contributions by employees. The company expects those two steps to result in roughly $7 million in savings during the current fiscal year, spokeswoman Julie Lorigan said.

Talbots’ defined-benefit pension plan had $110 million in assets as of February 2, 2008, according to its most recent annual report. The company had $159 million in its 401(k) plan as of December 2006, according to the 2009 Money Market Directory.

—Douglas Appell/Pensions & Investments
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—Crain's Benefits Outlook, March 2009