Hertz Schram PC ERISA & Pension Lawyers

Whether a retiree has “received” his pension benefits should be a simple question to answer. Right? Not always. It all depends on what you mean by “receive,” as illustrated by the following case. In Thomason v. Metro Life Ins. Co., No. 16-10634, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 12932 (5th Cir. July 18, 2017), Joel Thomason worked for Verizon Communications and participated in its long-term disability (LTD) plan and pension plan. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MetLife) was the claims administrator for the…

Read More Read More

According to the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, retirees are the fastest-growing segment of our population filing for bankruptcy, and 39% of bankrupt retirees do so on account of medical expenses. This sad statistic is largely attributable to (i) a lack of awareness regarding the amount of money needed to cover out-of-pocket medical expenses in retirement; (ii) misunderstandings about Medicare coverage; and (iii) failing to consult with a certified financial planner, estate planning attorney, and/or elder care attorney well before planned retirement….

Read More Read More

Playing hide-the-doughnut was fun when we were kids. However, it is totally unacceptable when explaining pension benefits to plan participants, as one large corporation recently learned the hard way. Osberg v. Foot Locker, Inc., No. 15-3602, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 12041 (2nd Cir. July 6, 2017). On January 1, 1996, Foot Locker converted its “traditional” defined benefit pension plan to a “cash balance plan.” Under the traditional plan, participants were entitled to a monthly annuity beginning at age 65, calculated…

Read More Read More

In Post #84 on my Pension Justice 4 You Facebook Page, www.facebook.com/PensionJustice4You, I explained the pension risks of signing a separation agreement that includes a broad release of claims against the employer or related persons or entities. A recent case involving $1.3 million in vested pension benefits illustrates the problem. Buster v. Comp. Comm. of Bd. Of Dirs. Of Mechs. Bank, No. C 16-101146 WHA (N.D. Ca. July 14, 2017). Steven Buster worked as president and chief executive officer for Mechanics…

Read More Read More

I have been a pension lawyer for well over 20 years, and typically receive 5-10 calls a day from people who believe they have a pension claim and want my help. What information do I typically need in order to properly evaluate their claim? First, I need to hear their “story” so I can obtain a clear understanding of what they are complaining about, what they want, and what they have done thus far to try to get it. Frequently,…

Read More Read More

I frequently receive calls from pensioners who have received a notice from the pension plan administrator that they were overpaid and that they must repay the overage; otherwise, the plan will withhold all or a portion of their future pension checks until the overage has been repaid. The callers want to know whether the plan can lawfully do this. My answer? It depends. But if (i) the plan administrator did not mislead the pensioner, (ii) the over payments continued for…

Read More Read More

Under ERISA [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which governs most private-sector employee benefit plans], pension plans must be administered in accordance with their terms. Although this rule is well-known by plan administrators, disputes arise when parties disagree about the meaning of the plan’s terms. Nonetheless, if the terms of the plan unambiguously favor your pension claim, do what the participant did in Walton v. Pension Plan, No. 2:16-cv-00397, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 80440 (W.D. Pa. May 24, 2017): FIGHT…

Read More Read More

Pension plans are designed to be long-term such that participants steadily accrue benefits over their period of employment with the plan sponsor and any participating employer. As a result, records of participants’ employment history and benefit accruals may span many years. Participants typically do not maintain these records themselves. Rather, these records are maintained (or should be maintained) by the plan administrator. But what are the consequences if the plan administrator fails to maintain such records? All too often I…

Read More Read More

Courts interpret pension plans in accordance with their terms and, therefore, will not deviate from them, even when the result seems harsh or unfair. Strang v. Ford Motor Co. General Retirement Plan, No. 16-2090, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 8849 (6th Cir. May 19, 2017) is a recent, albeit sad, example. In Strang, John Strang had worked for Ford Motor Company for over thirty-eight years when he retired in 2007 and began receiving monthly pension benefits from Ford’s pension plan. In…

Read More Read More

ERISA [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which governs most private sector pension plans] seeks to protect pension plan participants from losing their promised pension benefits. One way ERISA does this is through an “anti-forfeiture rule” that expressly prohibits the forfeiture of a participant’s vested pension benefit at normal retirement age. In a recent court decision, this rule was instrumental in netting the pension claimant an additional $109,000 in past due pension benefits plus interest and the right to seek…

Read More Read More