The AT&T Pension Plan has announced an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit filed in 2003 under which the AT&T Pension Plan will pay a total of $16 million to settle a claim that it miscalculated the pension benefits owed to some non-bargained (management) retirees of certain AT&T companies who retired under a 2000 early retirement window known as the Enhanced Pension and Retirement Program ("EPR").
The net settlement benefit will be distributed to the approximately 3,800 plan participant class members and their beneficiaries on a pro rata basis (using the Plan's fall 2001 estimates of participants' benefits compared to the overall amount paid to those participants as a group). The net average additional payment, calculated as a lump sum, that each plan participant class member and his or her beneficiaries is expected to receive is approximately $2,900.00.
To become effective, the agreement must be both preliminarily and finally approved by Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
