AT&T Retirees Fail in Appeal for Retroactive Early Pension Pay

AT&T Services Inc. on Wednesday defeated an appeal by two retirees who said the company’s pension committee wrongly denied retroactive early retirement benefits to eligible workers who didn’t formally request these benefits at age 55.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld summary judgment against the retirees, who challenged multiple decisions in which AT&T’s pension committee declined to pay retroactive benefits to workers who didn’t submit election forms when they became eligible to receive unreduced early retirement benefits at age 55. The committee reasonably concluded that a formal election form was required before workers could receive these ...