Kohler to Pay $2.45 Million to Settle Pension Math Lawsuit

A group of Kohler Co. retirees say they’ve reached a proposed $2.45 million settlement over allegations the Wisconsin-based company used outdated information to calculate pension benefits for plans that included their spouses.

The class of about 500 plan beneficiaries said the workers chose pensions that benefit them and their spouses—including Joint and Survivor Annuitites—versus a Single-Life Annuity, and those plans are supposed to be “actuarially equivalent” to each other under ERISA. They alleged that the plumbing product and cabinetry maker used outdated mortality data to calculate benefits for JSAs that made those plans out of sync with SLAs, according to ...