Thursday, April 22, 2010

Augsburg Fortress Pensions

"Employees and retirees of Minneapolis publisher Augsburg Fortress are suing their employer, alleging in their complaint that it allowed their pension plan to fail, and used its connection to the Lutheran church as a legal shield to avoid paying them all their pensions.

The suit, filed in federal court in Minneapolis on Wednesday, comes more than three months after the company announced it was terminating the plan, saying it had been underfunded for nine years. The plan had only $8.6 million to pay $24.2 million in pension obligations to 500 employees and retirees, said the company, which publishes books for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, including hymnals, the works of theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Garrison Keillor's latest book."

Publisher's Employees Sue Over Church-Related Pension - WSJ.com

Pension Rights explained

1 comment:

Three Score and Ten or more said...

Sounds a lot like the state of California, except that California, being a governmental body, can pretend it has money.