Foot Locker Loses Appeal in Long-Running Pension Dispute

Foot Locker Inc. must pay higher pension benefits to correct a 1996 retirement plan change that amounted to an impermissible and undisclosed benefit freeze, a federal appeals court ruled (Osberg v. Foot Locker, Inc., 2017 BL 232258, 2d Cir., No. 15-3602, 7/6/17).

The July 6 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is a victory for about 16,000 former Foot Locker workers and for benefit plan participants in general, because the court said the workers weren’t required to show on an individual basis that they detrimentally ...