*NEWS*XEROX ORDERED TO PAY-UP RETIREES

[Anonymous]

Xerox owes in retirees’ lawsuit
It’s ordered to pay up, ending pensions case
(FEB
2007) — A judge has ordered Xerox Corp. to pay a group of retirees who
claimed that the company improperly calculated their pensions.A group
of about 120 retirees filed a lawsuit against the company in 1999. All
had left Xerox for a time and later returned. They claimed that Xerox
failed to inform them about a change in their pensions before they
retired and that they are entitled to credit for lost years of
service.U.S. District Court Judge David Larimer ordered Xerox to
recalculate the retirees’ benefits and pay the difference between what
each person received and the value of the recalculated benefit.In
total, that sum could exceed $30 million, said Robert Jaffe, a New
Jersey-based lawyer representing the workers. Some retirees are
individually entitled to as much as $800,000, he said.Larimer’s
decision also opens the door for other retirees, perhaps 1,000 or more,
to be covered in the process, Jaffe said.”This was an extremely
well-reasoned decision,” Jaffe said. “I thought the judge did a
thorough job.”Jaffe said retirees who weren’t part of the lawsuit, but
may be entitled to payments, should call a lawyer. “These folks have a
ticket and they can redeem it,” he said.A Xerox spokeswoman said the
company was disappointed in parts of the decision but found workable
parts as well.”There are certain aspects we still need to evaluate,”
Christa Carone said.In January 2006, the Second U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in New York City ruled that Xerox violated the Employee Retiree
Income Security Act in determining the benefits and did not properly
inform the retirees about the change in how they were calculated.That
court sent the case back to Larimer for a decision on how the employees
should be compensated. A two-day hearing was held in Rochester in July
to discuss the methods of calculating benefits.In his recent ruling
ordering the company to pay, Larimer also asked both sides to submit
responses within 30 days on the specifics of the compensation plan. 

[Author]

February 20, 2007 at 11:08 AM