Government Pension and Retiree Health Care Benefits Class Actions
Many state and local governments have promised their employees pension and retiree health benefits based years of service. Despite these promises, many governmental entities have failed to set aside sufficient funds to meet these obligations. The problems created by underfunding have been compounded by the recent nosedive in the stock market. As a result, many state and local governments now find themselves under mounting financial and political pressure to reduce or eliminate the promised benefits. Although employees kept their end of the bargain by putting in decades of service, when they retire they face the prospect of reduced or even elimination of their pension and health benefits.
Take retiree health benefits, for example. Over the past year, a number of public employers have unilaterally raised the amount of the contributions retirees have to make, or imposed higher deductibles, or instituted a cap on benefits or even eliminated retiree health altogether. These changes may violate union contracts, state laws, or even Constitutional provisions which prevent governmental entities from interfering with contracts and unilaterally reducing vested rights. Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne has been representing public-sector employees and retirees whose promised retirement benefits have been cut or eliminated. For example, our firm is counsel to firefighters, police officers and other public employees in Massachusetts in a class action suit challenging cuts to their pensions instituted by the Massachusetts Public Employee Retirement System. This case has received widespread attention in the Boston media. “Unions Sue over Mass. Pension Changes,” Boston Globe, July 3, 2009.
In another case, SFD&P has been representing more than 200 retired Veterans’ Affairs nurses who claimed that the Office of Personnel Management miscalculated their pension benefits in violation of federal law. The Merit Protection Service Board ruled in favor of these retirees, resulting in these nurses receiving more than $15 million in back pension benefits and increased monthly benefits for the rest of their lives. See “Part-Time VA Nurses Win Long Battle for Full Pensions,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 12, 2008.
Our representation of former governmental workers builds upon our vast experience representing retirees in the private sector. Our lawyers have been representing retirees for years. Firm Partner Bill Payne has been appointed class counsel to represent union retirees in legal challenges to reduction or elimination of their retirement benefits in over 50 class actions over the past twenty-five years. As the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has said, retirees would be “hard pressed to find someone with greater `experience in handling class actions ... and claims of the type asserted in the action’ or an attorney with more `knowledge of the applicable law.’”
RETIREES: If you believe that your retiree pension, medical or other benefits have been wrongly cut or eliminated, please contact us immediately so that we may evaluate your claim.
ATTORNEYS: If you are an attorney with a client in this position, please consider partnering with us. We represent referred matters as we represent our own clients, and respect the relationship you have developed with your client. We are flexible in our approach. We can team up with you to prosecute the case or and we are willing to take the lead. We are also flexible on fee arrangements, subject to the rules of the applicable jurisdiction. Under any scenario, you will find us easy to work with and you can be confident that your client will be well represented.
Many state and local governments have promised their employees pension and retiree health benefits based years of service. Despite these promises, many governmental entities have failed to set aside sufficient funds to meet these obligations. The problems created by underfunding have been compounded by the recent nosedive in the stock market. As a result, many state and local governments now find themselves under mounting financial and political pressure to reduce or eliminate the promised benefits. Although employees kept their end of the bargain by putting in decades of service, when they retire they face the prospect of reduced or even elimination of their pension and health benefits.
Take retiree health benefits, for example. Over the past year, a number of public employers have unilaterally raised the amount of the contributions retirees have to make, or imposed higher deductibles, or instituted a cap on benefits or even eliminated retiree health altogether. These changes may violate union contracts, state laws, or even Constitutional provisions which prevent governmental entities from interfering with contracts and unilaterally reducing vested rights. Stember Feinstein Doyle & Payne has been representing public-sector employees and retirees whose promised retirement benefits have been cut or eliminated. For example, our firm is counsel to firefighters, police officers and other public employees in Massachusetts in a class action suit challenging cuts to their pensions instituted by the Massachusetts Public Employee Retirement System. This case has received widespread attention in the Boston media. “Unions Sue over Mass. Pension Changes,” Boston Globe, July 3, 2009.
In another case, SFD&P has been representing more than 200 retired Veterans’ Affairs nurses who claimed that the Office of Personnel Management miscalculated their pension benefits in violation of federal law. The Merit Protection Service Board ruled in favor of these retirees, resulting in these nurses receiving more than $15 million in back pension benefits and increased monthly benefits for the rest of their lives. See “Part-Time VA Nurses Win Long Battle for Full Pensions,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 12, 2008.
Our representation of former governmental workers builds upon our vast experience representing retirees in the private sector. Our lawyers have been representing retirees for years. Firm Partner Bill Payne has been appointed class counsel to represent union retirees in legal challenges to reduction or elimination of their retirement benefits in over 50 class actions over the past twenty-five years. As the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has said, retirees would be “hard pressed to find someone with greater `experience in handling class actions ... and claims of the type asserted in the action’ or an attorney with more `knowledge of the applicable law.’”
RETIREES: If you believe that your retiree pension, medical or other benefits have been wrongly cut or eliminated, please contact us immediately so that we may evaluate your claim.
ATTORNEYS: If you are an attorney with a client in this position, please consider partnering with us. We represent referred matters as we represent our own clients, and respect the relationship you have developed with your client. We are flexible in our approach. We can team up with you to prosecute the case or and we are willing to take the lead. We are also flexible on fee arrangements, subject to the rules of the applicable jurisdiction. Under any scenario, you will find us easy to work with and you can be confident that your client will be well represented.
