Compliance December 28, 2012

Pretrial Date Set for Ameriprise Case

The case against Ameriprise Financial Inc. over its 401(k) investment options is moving forward with a pretrial conference date set for early next month.
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The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota scheduled an initial pretrial conference for January 7, 2013 at 2 p.m.

The plaintiffs – all of whom are or were Ameriprise 401(k) participants –  allege Ameriprise provided “imprudent and unreasonably expensive investment options” for its 401(k) participants and breached their fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

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The plaintiffs propose a trial date of December 9, 2013, or after, and the defendants – alleged fiduciaries to the plan under ERISA – propose a trial date of July 31, 2014, or after.

Earlier this month, a judge denied Ameriprise’s motion to dismiss (see “Ameriprise Fund Selection Suit Moves Forward”).

Compliance December 28, 2012

Judge Approves AMR Collective Bargaining Agreement

A judge approved a collective bargaining agreement between an airline and a pilots association.
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U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane approved the agreement between AMR Corp.—the parent company of American Airlines—and the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the collective bargaining agent for all 10,000 American Airlines pilots. APA’s membership ratified that agreement on December 7.

At stake were lump-sum benefit payments the agreement would eliminate.

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APA Communications Director Gregg Overman said on the APA information hotline that the approval enables the agreed-to freeze of the A Plan to proceed, “averting plan termination.”

A group of senior pilots, however, doesn’t think the agreement should have scrapped the benefit.

“[E]limination of the lump sum and installment forms of benefits for the 172 Supplement B Pilots is not necessary to avoid a termination of the Plan,” the group said in an objection filed with the bankruptcy court.

Judge Lane denied the senior pilots’ motion, which is available here.

 

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