Retiree: "It's either eat and have no insurance or have insurance and don't eat."

Embarq retiree Bob King of Ocala, FL was featured in a Wednesday, January 2nd news article referencing the plight of older retirees and their hope for success in the courts. The newspaper is the Ocala Star-Banner and the complete article is online here: http://www.ocala.com/article/20080102/NEWS/801020337/1001/NEWS01#

Mr. King made a good case for retirees in the article; Some of which are reprinted here on eq65:

Robert E. King, 77, is one of 10 named plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against Embarq and Sprint Nextel for alleged violations of federal retirement law - specifically, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

The plaintiffs seek class-action status to sue on behalf of approximately 13,000 retirees of regional and local phone companies in 15 states. The retirees worked for various companies that Sprint Nextel acquired over the years and then made subsidiaries of Embarq in May 2006.

Embarq was once Sprint-owned but is now a stand-alone, publicly traded company. It is the fourth-largest local phone carrier in the country with $6 billion in revenues each year, the suit says.

The suit focuses on Embarq's decision in July to cut off health insurance to all retirees who have reached age 65 and are Medicare-eligible. That change took effect Jan. 1. The company also is eliminating or reducing life insurance coverage for these older retirees.

"I am disappointed that it had to come to this, but Embarq and Sprint have left us no choice,"...

"And, I am angry because it is all about greed."

King worked in management for United Telecom of Florida, Sprint of Florida and other phone companies affiliated with Sprint from April 1959 until his retirement in 1993. He said the company's elimination of health insurance benefits means coverage that cost him and his wife $59 a month would now run them $400 a month.

"The sad part of it is there are people who are just barely getting by - old telephone operators and lower-level employees," King said. "I've always been in management, so I'm blessed, you might say. But some of these people are just getting by. They can't go out and get insurance. It's either eat and have no insurance or have insurance and don't eat."

King said following Embarq's move, his $13,000 life insurance policy is reduced to $10,000 and the $12,000 policy on his wife is eliminated.

...on the same day Embarq cut retirees' benefits, the company told shareholders that decision would save $20 million during the second half of 2007, would save $40 million on average each year and reduce long-term post-retirement benefit obligations by $301 million.

"They may say that it is for the benefit of the current employees, the stockholders, and the customers," King wrote in an e-mail to the Star-Banner. "But that is just not so. The money they plan to take from the older retirees who do not get cost-of-living increases and have only gotten one general increase in their retirement benefit in the last 13 years, will fund the ridiculously large bonuses of the CEOs."

The lawsuit also alleges that Sprint Nextel has a history of age discrimination...