Kellogg, FedEx Retiree Appeals Spur Pension Law History Lesson

A pair of appeals challenging pension amounts for certain Kellogg Co. and FedEx Corp. retirees has spurred a Sixth Circuit debate over how a specific phrase in federal benefits law was understood 50 years ago.

The dispute centers on what it means for one pension format to be the “actuarial equivalent” of another format under the 50-year-old Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Retirees accusing FedEx and Kellogg successors Kellanova and WK Kellogg Co. of shortchanging their pensions say this statutory phrase was a term of art under actuarial science, and it requires calculations that reflect real-life conditions with an eye ...