Verizon Communications Inc. management retirees can move ahead with their class-action lawsuit stemming from the company's decision to sell its pension liabilities to Prudential Insurance Co. of America.
A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that the 41,000 retirees impacted by the buyout could sue as a group. The judge also ruled that another 50,000 plan participants whose benefits weren't transferred in the deal also could sue.
Verizon retirees filed a lawsuit in November of last year in an attempt to stop the pension annuity deal. In that suit, they argued that the transfer of the pensions to an annuity eliminated their ERISA protections and their ability to tap into the federally insured pension safety net provided by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.
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The same judge denied a preliminary injunction to block the transaction so Verizon was able to contract with Prudential to transfer $7.5 billion in pension obligations and about 25 percent of the company's pension liabilities.
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