To: Supreme Court, President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Supreme Court: Review Appellate Dismissals of National Corporate Pension Reduction Cases
Supreme Court: Review the appellate decision in the AT&T pension reduction case, which was used as a precedent to dismiss several other national corporate pension reduction cases.
Why is this important?
Please sign this petition to ask the Supreme Court to review Judge Trump Barry’s (Donald Trump's sister) decision in the AT&T pension reduction case, and to review the decisions in all other corporate pension cases.
Judge Trump Barry stated “I keep thinking of my father’s words, “Work is its own reward.” You know, just keep working no matter how old you get”. (See link to transcript below to see her statement)
WHY THIS PETITION IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO SIGN, even if you did not work for AT&T:
1. The loss of the AT&T pensions and layoffs has caused significant damage to the US economy, including:
a. increased state and federal expenses for unemployment insurance,
b. increased state and federal expenses for older worker retraining,
c. increased state and federal expenses for food stamps and welfare,
d. decreased state and federal tax revenues,
e. increased state and federal budget deficits, and
f. decreased consumer spending.
This is an issue important to ALL Americans!
2. If you’re younger, you may think that a pension issue isn’t important to you. If that’s what you’re thinking, re-read point #1 above.
3. If you’re a former employee of many other national corporations, your pension lawsuit may have been thrown out of the courts. If we can get the Supreme Court to review the AT&T decision, your corporation’s lawsuit may be reconsidered as well.
4. Re-read point #1 above!
In 1997, AT&T changed its pension plan from a traditional, defined-benefit plan, to a cash-balance, defined-contribution plan. In 1998, a lawsuit was filed alleging that the conversion was done in an age-discriminatory manner, causing older employees to lose large portions of the amounts that had previously been accrued in their pensions.
At the time, this lawsuit was the largest age discrimination lawsuit in US history; 24,000 class members who opted-in, and $2 Billion in damages. I was identified as the employee who had the worst case of “wearaway”; I had 19 years of service at the time of the conversion, but the new plan took away 13 years, leaving only 6 years of my service in the new plan. (See link below to where this fact is mentioned in court documents). I never even had the chance to recover those lost years, because AT&T offshored my job and laid me off in 1999. This happened to tens of thousands of other employees.
After this case was stalled in the courts by AT&T for 13 years, it was thrown out in 2011 in the Federal Appellate Court in Philadelphia by a 3-judge panel, presided over by Judge Trump Barry, who is Donald Trump’s sister. Judge Trump Barry showed her attitude against retirement and pensions by stating, “I keep thinking of my father’s words, “Work is its own reward.” You know, just keep working no matter how old you get”. (See link to transcript below to see her statement)
The 24,000 class members, who suffered age discrimination at the hands of AT&T via pension reductions and subsequent mass layoffs, never had their day in court.
The Courts have thrown out the pension reduction cases of many other national corporations. Because all these pensions have been greatly decreased by corporations having reneged their fiduciary responsibilities to their former employees, there is a cascading significant loss to Federal and State income tax revenue, as well as a significant loss of money going back into the economy through consumer spending.
The lead attorney in this case was Stephen Bruce of Washington DC, a recognized expert in the pension field, who had previously testified in Congressional hearings on pension issues. Mr. Bruce had successfully argued a similar case for Cigna employees in front of the Supreme Court, and he won the case (see link to Supreme Court decision below). However, the Supreme Court denied hearing the AT&T case, even though the Appellate court had ruled differently on the AT&T case to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Cigna case.
RELEVANT LINKS:
Link to Judge Trump Barry’s statement: “Work is its own reward.” You know, just keep working no matter how old you get”.
http://erisapensionclaims.com/AT_T/Engers2011/Engers%20v%20AT&T%203rd%20Circuit%20Transcript%20final.pdf (page 30, line 19)
Link to Supreme Court decision for the employees in the Cigna lawsuit:
http://erisapensionclaims.com/CIGNA/pdfs2011/Cigna%20v%20Amara%20Supreme%20Court%20Opinion%205162011.pdf
Link to Bonny Berger’s 13-year wearaway:
http://www.erisapensionclaims.com/AT_T/October2004/ReplyBriefEngers.pdf (page 12, paragraph 3)
Judge Trump Barry stated “I keep thinking of my father’s words, “Work is its own reward.” You know, just keep working no matter how old you get”. (See link to transcript below to see her statement)
WHY THIS PETITION IS IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO SIGN, even if you did not work for AT&T:
1. The loss of the AT&T pensions and layoffs has caused significant damage to the US economy, including:
a. increased state and federal expenses for unemployment insurance,
b. increased state and federal expenses for older worker retraining,
c. increased state and federal expenses for food stamps and welfare,
d. decreased state and federal tax revenues,
e. increased state and federal budget deficits, and
f. decreased consumer spending.
This is an issue important to ALL Americans!
2. If you’re younger, you may think that a pension issue isn’t important to you. If that’s what you’re thinking, re-read point #1 above.
3. If you’re a former employee of many other national corporations, your pension lawsuit may have been thrown out of the courts. If we can get the Supreme Court to review the AT&T decision, your corporation’s lawsuit may be reconsidered as well.
4. Re-read point #1 above!
In 1997, AT&T changed its pension plan from a traditional, defined-benefit plan, to a cash-balance, defined-contribution plan. In 1998, a lawsuit was filed alleging that the conversion was done in an age-discriminatory manner, causing older employees to lose large portions of the amounts that had previously been accrued in their pensions.
At the time, this lawsuit was the largest age discrimination lawsuit in US history; 24,000 class members who opted-in, and $2 Billion in damages. I was identified as the employee who had the worst case of “wearaway”; I had 19 years of service at the time of the conversion, but the new plan took away 13 years, leaving only 6 years of my service in the new plan. (See link below to where this fact is mentioned in court documents). I never even had the chance to recover those lost years, because AT&T offshored my job and laid me off in 1999. This happened to tens of thousands of other employees.
After this case was stalled in the courts by AT&T for 13 years, it was thrown out in 2011 in the Federal Appellate Court in Philadelphia by a 3-judge panel, presided over by Judge Trump Barry, who is Donald Trump’s sister. Judge Trump Barry showed her attitude against retirement and pensions by stating, “I keep thinking of my father’s words, “Work is its own reward.” You know, just keep working no matter how old you get”. (See link to transcript below to see her statement)
The 24,000 class members, who suffered age discrimination at the hands of AT&T via pension reductions and subsequent mass layoffs, never had their day in court.
The Courts have thrown out the pension reduction cases of many other national corporations. Because all these pensions have been greatly decreased by corporations having reneged their fiduciary responsibilities to their former employees, there is a cascading significant loss to Federal and State income tax revenue, as well as a significant loss of money going back into the economy through consumer spending.
The lead attorney in this case was Stephen Bruce of Washington DC, a recognized expert in the pension field, who had previously testified in Congressional hearings on pension issues. Mr. Bruce had successfully argued a similar case for Cigna employees in front of the Supreme Court, and he won the case (see link to Supreme Court decision below). However, the Supreme Court denied hearing the AT&T case, even though the Appellate court had ruled differently on the AT&T case to the Supreme Court’s decision in the Cigna case.
RELEVANT LINKS:
Link to Judge Trump Barry’s statement: “Work is its own reward.” You know, just keep working no matter how old you get”.
http://erisapensionclaims.com/AT_T/Engers2011/Engers%20v%20AT&T%203rd%20Circuit%20Transcript%20final.pdf (page 30, line 19)
Link to Supreme Court decision for the employees in the Cigna lawsuit:
http://erisapensionclaims.com/CIGNA/pdfs2011/Cigna%20v%20Amara%20Supreme%20Court%20Opinion%205162011.pdf
Link to Bonny Berger’s 13-year wearaway:
http://www.erisapensionclaims.com/AT_T/October2004/ReplyBriefEngers.pdf (page 12, paragraph 3)