How do you determine if you get a pension from Lucent Technologies?

Ask Lucent's HR department, or review your employment letter, deal memo, or contract. If your contract does not specifically mention it, you probably do not have one. If you have a contract or equivalent, compare it to what the HR department tells you -- they've been known to make "mistakes" (shocking, but true).

Exceptions: You may be entitled to a pension or some sort of settlement (golden parachute, hush money, what-have-you) if you are a member of a union or you fall under a collective bargaining agreement, or were a plaintiff in a successful class-action lawsuit.

Good luck! Remember that a pension, even if "owed" to you, has almost no guarantee of actually being given to you (e.g., bankruptcy). Whenever possible, always take the initiative and always followup any aspect of your life that involves money. It's very easy to make verbal agreements (which are worth the paper they're written on, right?), or to have an interpretation of a written agreement that doesn't follow that actual letter of the agreement.

The last person on Earth who really, really cared about you and your finances was your Mom and/or Dad.