Kraft Heinz Retirees Lose Health Benefit Challenge

Kraft Heinz Food Co. didn’t violate federal law when it terminated its retirees’ health-care and prescription drug insurance (Gruss v. Kraft Heinz Foods Co., 2017 BL 326299, W.D. Wis., No. 3:15-cv-00788-WMC, 9/15/17).

The retirees, who had been hourly employees at the Pennsylvania-based Oscar Mayer plant, didn’t have a vested right to health-care benefits upon retirement, a federal judge in Wisconsin held Sept. 15.

The three collective bargaining agreements at issue didn’t include clear and express language providing that the health-care benefits would continue past a worker’s termination, Judge William M. Conley said. Moreover, relevant summary plan descriptions expressly ...