The advocate of public pension plan reform did, however, point to bad outcomes for public employees in selected states that substituted 401(k)-style retirement packages for traditional defined benefit plans.

FORBES: Here's A Radical Idea: Fiscal Responsibility

In fact, the law's stiffer funding requirements for defined-benefit plans will likely push companies with underfunded plans to freeze them, says Jack VanDerhei, a Temple University professor and fellow at the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

FORBES: Must You Work Until You Drop?

Activists investors like Loeb are still criticized in the U.S. A few weeks ago, for example, Loeb was knocked for allegedly supporting an effort to deny teachers and other public-sector workers guaranteed benefits while raising money from such defined benefit plans for his hedge funds.

FORBES: Dan Loeb Shakes Up Japan And Sony