Retirees ARE Important  

 

With a motion, pased by Our Members at the February 2007 membership

meeting CWA Local 7621 is now purchasing lifetime memberships

for each retiree  members as of February 2007.  Please notify the local

if you are planning to retire.  

 

Attention ALL RETIREES

March 31, 2007

Mimi Hull, President
ASSOCIATION OF U S WEST RETIREES
Board Members and general membership


For over fifty years, A.T.&T. and its successor companies, including U S WEST, provided a life insurance benefit considered by the plan sponsor to be an earned entitlement payable upon the death of a Retiree receiving a service pension and delivered to his or her beneficiaries or estate. U S WEST, the plan sponsor before being acquired by QWEST, memorialized in the governing plan document an ironclad rule that the life insurance coverage could not be reduced below a certain level. The rules proclaimed an anti-amendment as follows:
“The Basic Life Coverage amount for an Eligible Retiree who retires before January 1, 1996 and dies after December 31, 1996 shall not be reduced below $20,000.

The Basic Life Coverage amount for an Eligible Retiree who retires on or after January 1, 1996 shall not be reduced below $30,000.�
I am certain that each of you received a letter from U S WEST outlining that commitment. For example, U S WEST sent to every Retiree a letter dated September 25, 1997 signed by Antonia Ozeroff, Vice President - Corporate Human Resources stating, "We are also raising the minimum retiree basic life insurance benefits to $20,000 for the beneficiaries of retirees dying on or after December 31, 1996." And, every Pre-1991 Retiree received a formal confirmation notice, at least 4 years in a row (2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), in which Qwest reiterated that it reserved the right to make certain changes to the health, dental and life insurance plans, except for Pre-1991 Retirees.


Notwithstanding the clear and unambiguous rules limiting reductions in coverage, QWEST leadership decided to reduce life insurance coverage to a mere $10,000 and apply that change to Occupational Retirees. A plan amendment adopted on December 13, 2006 was illegally applied to Occupational Retirees retroactive to January 1, 2006. Last year, QWEST formally announced that Management Retirees would suffer the same plight as the Occupational Retirees. QWEST Chief Executive Officer Richard Notebaert announced the Company had decided all retirees would suffer the same reduction of life insurance coverage to only $10,000 effective January 1, 2007.


This drastic reduction affecting all retirees was announced as part of QWEST’s mission to act as a 'good steward' of its resources in the same year Qwest CEO Dick Notebaert's total compensation package had to be set at over $25 million.


Despite AUSWR's efforts to cause a massive outcrying, and QWEST’s receipt of countless written impassioned protestations from retirees, QWEST leadership, including Mr. Notebaert, have refused and will continue to refuse to do the right thing and comply with the rules which specifically forbid life insurance reductions below the stated thresholds. Thus far, hundreds if not a thousand beneficiaries and estates have already been cheated out of the proper amount of life insurance benefits payable at the deaths of Retirees.


Therefore, yesterday, your Retiree organization - AUSWR - struck back at Qwest. Retirees Ed Kerber, Nelson Phelps, Joanne West, Nancy Meister and Tom Ingemann, for themselves and each of you -- i.e., all other Plan Participants and Beneficiaries, filed a class action lawsuit in Denver Federal Court seeking a panoply of declaratory, injunctive and other equitable relief, including removal of QWEST leadership from further administration of employee benefit plans.


You can read the 26 page Complaint filed yesterday in the case of Kerber, et al v. Qwest, et al (Group Life Insurance Death Benefits), Case No. 07-644, by visiting the Legal Developments page at the AUSWR website:
http://www.uswestretiree.org/Complaint330.pdf This is a fight for the rights of all Retirees, both Occupational and Management, more than forty-thousand (40,000) families. Any comments you have regarding this Complaint and legal endeavor will be appreciated, so let me know your thoughts.


As usual, AUSWR will post updates at the website and keep you informed of all significant developments, as this case grinds through the federal court process. Meanwhile, If you know family members of any U S WEST/Qwest Retiree whose beneficiaries have already been cheated out of the promised minimum life insurance benefits as discussed above and paid only $10,000 in life insurance proceeds please share this report with them and encourage them to either email or mail me a letter. And, please continue to financially support your Retiree organization - AUSWR. Thanks.


Curtis

Curtis L. Kennedy
Attorney-at-law
8405 E. Princeton Ave.
Denver, CO 80237-1741
Tele: 303-770-0440
Fax: 303-843-0360
CurtisLKennedy@aol.com

 

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