Kellogg, FedEx Retirees Revive 6th Cir. Pension Math Challenges

Retired Kellogg Co. and FedEx Corp. employees revived their proposed class actions challenging how pensions for married workers are calculated, according to a Monday decision by a split panel of Sixth Circuit judges.

Pensions that include post-death payments for a worker’s surviving spouse are legally required to be the “actuarial equivalent” of a traditional, single-life pension, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said in a 2-1 opinion. This actuarial equivalence requirement may not be met if a married worker’s pension is calculated using out-of-date life expectancy data, the court said.

“Actuarial equivalence requires mortality assumptions that ...