Reply #50: Suit claims Duke Energy pension changes hurt employees

[UpInArms]

http://www.wcnc.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8FLK55G1.html

Six former and current Duke Energy employees claim the company committed age discrimination and violated pension laws when it made changes to its retirement plan in the 1990s, according to a lawsuit filed this week in federal court.

The suit claims "older workers lost thousands of dollars in the value of their pensions after putting in decades of work" for the company.

<snip>

The lawsuit, filed in South Carolina, resembles a landmark discrimination and pension suit against IBM in which IBM in 2004 agreed to pay $300 million to thousands of older workers.

North Carolinian Henry Miller, a Duke employee and one of the plaintiffs, had accrued pension benefits of $258,000 under the old plan. The complaint says under the new plan his opening account balance was $129,000.

The U.S. Department of Labor requires that changes to pension plans "cannot reduce benefits that participants have already earned."

...more...

Looks like out-and-out theft, if you ask me :eyes: