Labels:text | screenshot | handwriting | outdoor OCR: The Hongkong an ed fliers Phantom account found in Xerox's pension fund Because he had not been told NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, NEW YORK Paul Frommert, 61, works for what was going on, Frommert said, Xerox as a quality and safety he asked Xerox to calculate his manager in Webster, New York. He pension more realistically - but to has been with the company for 36 no avail. He said he even offered to surrender his previous years of years. His retirement account is worth about US$1 million and service and accept only the bene- should provide him with a retire- fits accumulated since he came ment income of about US$5,000 a back in 1989, as if he had been a new hire. Still, he said, the compa- month. Or so he thought. Iny said no. Last November, From- Frommert, who had been looking mert sued Xerox in US District forward to retiring in 2001, he not- Court in New Haven, seeking a iced a reference in his Xerox re- pension unravaged by the phantom account. "I'm in a pickle," he said. tirement fund statement to "prior "I have an 11-year-old son. I'm go- distribution." He didn't understand ing to have to continue working if it and started asking about it. this suit isn't resolved in my favor." His questions led to the discov- A spokesman for Xerox said ery that instead of the US$5,000 a the company would not comment Chine month he had been counting on at on pending litigation. age 62, he would actually get less opul Philip Since last November, 40 more than US$20, because of the curious rehired Xerox employees have way Xerox took account of a break in service, from 1985 to 1989, when joined the suit Frommert and the Malaj he left to start his own business. plaintiffs' lawyer, Robert Jaffe, Thai When he left in 1985, Frommert estimate that up to 1,500 of Hon said. Xerox required him to with- Xerox's 53.250 domestic employ- draw the pension fund balance - ees could unwittingly be in the S Ko same pickle. Sing then about US$140,000 - that he had accumulated since 1960. Alan Clair, 57, another plaintiff, Swis Under the Employment Retire- said he loves working for Xerox Deu ment Income Security Act, or Erisa, but called the pension predica- returning employees must be given ment "gut-wrenching." He added, UK ing credit for previous years of service "With one hand. Xerox credited us or be allowed to buy them back. So with our previous service; then Jap PHOTO NY W , restaurants, gyms and health clubs. when he was rehired in 1989, he with another, invisible, hand, they Fre was given retirement credit for his took it away." arly with- home from a business trip. "I was in so much pain, and this made me feel first 25 years, and he said Xerox led The situation provides a lesson The Boston him to believe that it would some- in the importance of knowing all Ca to US$15 somewhat better. This is a great ser how deduct the US$140,000 already the ins and outs of your company AU percent of vice to have at an airport." Other airports, like Orlando Int- paid to him when it came time to retirement account, especially if IN calculate his pension. don't even ernational, have in-terminal salons you have been rehired after quit- where travelers can get haircuts, What Frommert says he wasn't ting or retiring. But because both The airport m flights, massages or manicures. told - and didn't find out until five the laws and companies' policies And the number and range of years ago is that Xerox makes can be blindingly complex, and i have a retail stores and restaurants in air- such deductions in a way that would all but obliterate his benefits. sometimes misleading, it is not ower and ports growing, too: In the Airmall Ados said. at Pittsburgh International, many Xerox created a "phantom" ac- always easy. of the 105 stores are specifically count, pretending that it contain- Norman Stein, a professor of aimed at business travelers, in- cluding a Staples office products ed the US$140,000 Frommert had pension law at the University of Feat is not been paid, and had it "grow" on Alabama, says that changes in ports, big outlet. "As many as 10 percent of between- business travelers we've surveyed paper as if it had been invested pension plans during the last dec- n Airport and, has have said that they will purposely over the years. At retirement, the ade have hurt employees. He is especially critical of so- final, but try to connect through Pittsburgh "phantom" account would be called cash-balance plans, which 5-minute rather than somewhere else, just deducted from the real one. 215. Last to use our shops and services, Unlike the real pension money, many companies are adopting. In Knight said. though, the phantom account was a traditional plan, benefits based considered to have been placed in on a combination of age and ser- For what ails some travelers, vice build sharply toward the end though, exercise or pampering or a very aggressive stock fund, of an employee's career; in a cash- shopping may not be enough. Ken- growing at an estimated rate of 22 balance plan, benefits build uni nedy International in New York, for percent a year, retroactive to 1985. formly each year. aly At that rate, the phantom account "Most canlı balance plus hey in example, provides services for
