Pacific Telesis Group Salaried Pension Plan ATB Benefit Miscalculation Litigation
Practice Area: Employee BenefitsSummary of the Lawsuit:
This lawsuit, entitled Barnes v. AT&T Pension Benefit Plan – NonBargained Program, No. 08-04058 EMC (N.D. Cal.), alleges that certain participants of the Pacific Telesis Group Cash Balance Plan for Salaried Employees (the “PTG Pension Plan” or “Plan”) who received a discounted Accelerated Transition Benefit (“ATB”) at their first termination and subsequently bridged their service by returning to work for a participating company were entitled to an enhanced ATB upon their second termination.
Summary of the Claims:
In 1996, Pacific Bell (“PacBell”) and other affiliated companies began offering an ATB to terminating employees. Under the terms of the Plan, an employee who terminated employment at less than 55 years of age with 20 years of service was entitled to a discounted ATB to reflect his or her age and service at the time of termination. However, if an employee who retired after March 31, 1996 was subsequently rehired before October 31, 1997 and worked 5 additional years, the employee “bridged” his or her service and was entitled to a “redetermined” ATB calculated on the basis of the employee’s age and service at the time of his or her next termination plus a cash balance (“CB”) benefit (or after 2001 a CAM benefit). Plaintiff alleges that the administrator of the PTG Pension Plan failed to provide both an adjusted ATB plus a CB/CAM to employees who bridged service. The Plan contends that a redetermined ATB was provided to those employees who elected to receive the benefit as an annuity at their first termination, but not to rehired employees who, like the Plaintiff, elected to receive the benefit as a lump sum at their first termination; however, the Plan also contends that rehired employees who received the benefit as an annuity were entitled to receive only a CB or an ATB. Plaintiff contends that the Plan required that all rehired employees who bridged their service were entitled to receive both (x) an adjusted or redetermined ATB plus (y) a cash balance or CAM benefit. Yet, the Plan has only paid one of those to benefits to members of the class.
Class Action Allegations:
This lawsuit is brought on behalf of the following persons:
(1) Participants of the PTG Pension Plan, who meet the following requirements:
- (a) who terminated their employment on or after March 22, 1996 with a company that participated in the PTG Pension Plan;
- (b) who were eligible for an Accelerated Transition Benefit (“ATB”), which, because they had not attained the requisite age or years of credited service, was subject to an ATB Discount;
- (c) who were subsequently rehired by a company that participated in the PTG Pension Plan on or before October 31, 1997, and worked at least five additional years; and
- (d) either (i) at their next termination, did not have their benefit calculated to include both an ATB adjusted to reflect their age and term of employment and a cash balance benefit (or a Career Average Minimum benefit) based on allocations to their account since rehire as set forth in section 3.4(d)(3) of the PTG Pension Plan or (ii) are still employed at a Participating Company.
(2) Beneficiaries of any of the persons described in Group 1.
Current Status of the Case:
On June 14, 2010, Plaintiff filed his motion for class certification. Following a hearing on the motion, the Court issued an order on August 31, 2010 granting Plaintiff’s Motion for Class Certification. Following the Court’s order on Class Certification, Plaintiff filed a motion to modify the class definition as well as a motion to amend the complaint. Both of these motions were heard by the Court on February 7, 2011 and were subsequently granted on March 1, 2011. Plaintiff filed his Second Amended Complaint on March 18, 2011 and the Defendant filed an answer to the Second Amended Complaint on April 15, 2011. Plaintiff submitted a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on January 13, 2012. A hearing regarding summary judgment has been scheduled on March 30, 2012.
Pursuant to an order from the Court, Plaintiff sent a Notice of Pendency of Class Action to each member of the Class in July of 2011. You can also obtain a copy of the notice and read the summary notice here.
Whom To Contact For More Information:
If you are a current or former participant in the PTG Pension Plan and terminated your employment with Pac Bell or affiliated company that participated in the PTG Pension Plan after March 31, 1996 and were thereafter rehired, you may be a member of the class in the present litigation. Please contact Cohen Milstein via our toll free number, email or mail, to learn more about the case.
Bruce F. Rinaldi, Esq., brinaldi@cohenmilstein.com
R. Joseph Barton, Esq., jbarton@cohenmilstein.com
Robyn Swanson, Esq., rswanson@cohenmilstein.com
Jason Kolcun, Paralegal, jkolcun@cohenmilstein.com
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC
1100 New York Avenue, N.W., Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20005
Telephone: (202) 408-4600
Or Toll Free: 1-888-240-0775
If you are a potential member of the class, please fill out and return the questionnaire and return the completed questionnaire to Jason Kolcun at the above address.