A federal district court for the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, ruled that about 2,500 former employees of the defunct Republic Technologies International are eligible for $96 million in plant shut-down benefits from the PBGC. You can access the case of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation v. Republic Technologies International, LLC, et al. here. Articles on the case:
- Associated Press via the New York Times: “Steelworkers Win Plant Closing Benefits”
- the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Court rules in favor of ex-workers.“
The PBGC said yesterday that it would appeal the decision. The agency had argued it was not obligated to pay up to $2,000 in monthly shutdown payments for workers who lost their Republic Technologies jobs but were too young for regular pensions because it had terminated the company’s underfunded pension plans two months earlier. The article quotes Steven A. Kandarian, the agency’s executive director, as stating: “By forcing the [agency] to pay nearly $100 million in unfunded severance benefits, this ruling will further weaken a pension insurance system that is already billions of dollars in the red.”