From Benefits & Executive Compensation News on Bloomberg Law
July 31, 2018
By Carmen Castro-Pagan
Three retired United Parcel Service Inc. workers sued the federal government July 31 challenging the Treasury Department’s decision to allow their pension benefits to be reduced.
The lawsuit is the first to challenge the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act, also known as the Kline-Miller Act. The 2014 law allows a multiemployer plan to request Treasury’s approval to cut benefits if the plan shows that doing so would avoid insolvency.
The retirees seek to hold the U.S. government liable for engaging in an “uncompensated taking of their property” by authorizing—through the Treasury—those pension cuts. The retirees, who participate in the New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund, seek to represent 21,250 similarly situated workers.