Bankruptcy Court Rules on Solutia Retiree Benefits
New York, NY, November 15--The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York granted a motion by the retirees committee of Solutia Inc., to stop the company from reducing the benefits of almost 6,000 retirees, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
Solutia, which filed for bankruptcy protection in December, had attempted to change retirement benefits for its retirees younger than 65.
According to Jack Treece of Pensacola, a member of the retirees committee of Solutia, that would have impacted more than 1,000 of the roughly 5,000 retirees in the Pensacola Bay Area.
Solutia had argued that the proposed change would save the company $5 million in annual retiree benefits.
Solutia's proposed plan would have increased the retirees' co-payments, affected coverage limits and substituted the current health-care plan with a cafeteria-style benefits plan.
Treece said this is just a temporary reprieve, "as Solutia goes through its bankruptcy."
He said he believes retirees' benefits are still in danger of being diminished.
