Kellogg Retiree Loses Would-be Class Suit Over Pension Math

Kellogg Co. successors Kellanova and WK Kellogg defeated a proposed class action saying their pension plan improperly shortchanges retirement benefits for certain married workers depending upon which pension format they choose.

Federal law doesn’t require pension plan administrators to regularly update the assumptions and life expectancy tables used to calculate optional benefit formats, Judge Stephen J. Murphy III said Wednesday. That’s fatal to the lawsuit, which says the plan violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by using 50-year-old life expectancy data to calculate benefits for certain married workers, Murphy said.

The relevant provisions of ERISA don’t require the use ...