In 2007, the UAW created a trust fund that provides healthcare benefits for retired UAW members of the “Big Three” automakers. The fund is intended to help control healthcare costs for former workers and their families. This trust was supposed to be the answer to rising healthcare costs for retirees and the shrinking pool of…

Daimler Trucks North America has agreed to contribute almost $500 million to a new employee benefit plan in an effort to end a class action lawsuit filed by a group of retirees and the United Auto Workers union accusing the company of illegally cutting their benefits. According to the company, the benefits were not vested…

M&G Polymers USA has operated a chemical plant in West Virginia since 2000. In 2006, the Company informed its retirees that they would have to contribute to their health care costs. Displeased with this, the retirees and their union, the Steelworkers, filed a class action against M&G. On appeal, the Sixth Circuit relied heavily on…

Moen terminated the lifetime health care benefits of workers who retired from its Elyria, Ohio plant, along with the benefits for their spouses and eligible dependents. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio called this case an “easy” decision and found that the parties intended for the retirees’ benefits to be vested…