FedEx Beats Would-be Class Challenge to Pension Calculations

FedEx Corp. defeated a proposed class action by retired pilots who say the company imtproperly shortchanged their pensions by calculating benefits using outdated life expectancy data.

The federal requirement that optional pension formats be “actuarially equivalent” to traditional, single-life pensions doesn’t include an “extra-statutory” requirement that benefits be calculated using reasonable actuarial assumptions, Judge Jon P. McCalla said Wednesday. This means the pilots can’t mount a claim under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act based on FedEx’s alleged failure to use reasonable life expectancy data when calculating these pensions, the judge said.

The pilots concede that their benefits were calculated ...