Verizon comes under fire over employee benefits

Verizon Communications is facing the wrath of three former employees who are suing the telco and its former Yellow Pages subsidiary, Idearc. In their lawsuit, the employees claim that their retirement benefits were transferred over to Idearc without their permission when it became a separate company in 2006.

In addition, the class-action suit lists up to 2,000 other former Verizon employees that similarly saw their retirement benefits moved over to an Idearc plan. Not long after these plans were switched over to Idearc--a company that relaunched itself as SuperMedia after emerging from bankruptcy this week--reduced its retiree benefits when it started to have financial problems.

Idearc said it could not comment on the matter, while Alberto Canal, a Verizon spokesman, told the Dallas Business Journal that it had informed the retirees of the change. "Verizon properly transferred their post-retirement benefit responsibility to Idearc, along with over $750 million to fund their pension benefits. Contrary to allegations, documents were provided to these plaintiffs, as required by federal law, and their internal claims were timely reviewed. Suggestions to the contrary are incorrect and misleading to Idearc retirees."

For more:
- read this Dallas Business Journal article

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