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US Airline Pilots Association Sues Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Dépèche transmise le 2 septembre 2009 par Business Wire

US Airline Pilots Association Sues Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA) today filed a lawsuit against the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) in federal court seeking the removal of the PBGC as trustee of US Airways pilots’ pension plan and requesting the immediate appointment of a temporary trustee to perform the investigatory functions that the PBGC has refused to perform on behalf of pension plan beneficiaries since 2003.

USAPA asserts that the PBGC breached its fiduciary duty to the fund and its thousands of beneficiaries by failing to comply with its duties required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The suit also requests the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to immediately appoint and empower another trustee of the Retirement Income Plan for Pilots of US Airways Inc. to perform the statutory and fiduciary duties required under ERISA and to investigate the plan’s financial affairs. These are actions that USAPA believes the PBGC failed to take as required by federal law.

“The PBGC has not fulfilled its obligation as trustee of our pilots’ retirement fund,” said Captain Mike Cleary, president of USAPA. “Our own investigation has uncovered a number of questionable circumstances surrounding activities and investments of our retirement fund prior to its termination. Our request to the PBGC for a thorough investigation has fallen on deaf ears, so we are asking the court to appoint a trustee who will do its due diligence in this matter and investigate the management, or perhaps the mismanagement, of our pilots’ retirement fund.”

The PBGC assumed control of the pilots’ pension on March 31, 2003, when US Airways terminated the plan during its bankruptcy proceedings over the objections of the pilots.

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., the US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA) represents more than 5,000 US Airways pilots in seven domiciles across the United States.