Northrop Grumman Wins Pension Calculation Class Suit After Trial

Northrop Grumman Corp. defeated a class action challenging how it calculated pensions for certain employees of predecessor companies, when a California federal judge ruled that the company’s benefit offsets were reasonably calculated and in line with plan terms and industry standards.

Judge Jesus G. Bernal ruled after a four-day trial that the company didn’t improperly deny benefits under its pension plan or violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s anti-cutback rule, which prohibits pension plan amendments that reduce certain accrued benefits. Northrop’s decision to offset certain workers’ benefits to account for lump sum distributions they received many years earlier was ...