Turner introduces health bill amid Delphi salaried retirees’ fight

Called the “Health Coverage Tax Credit Reauthorization Act,” the bill would allow eligible individuals to remain within the Health Coverage Tax Credit program past the program’s Dec. 31, 2019 termination date, or on leaving the program, Turner’s statement said.

“The Delphi salaried retirees had their pensions unjustly slashed, and now are at risk of losing their health care coverage,” Turner said in a release. “This legislation would ensure that they continue to receive current coverage.”

Delphi salaried retirees are considering their next steps after a federal judge ruled against them in a milestone decision last week in the retirees’ nearly decade-long quest to restore their full pensions.

Judge Arthur Tarnow, of the U.S. District Court in Eastern Michigan, ruled that the plaintiffs — the Delphi retirees — offered “no evidence” to support the claim that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s (PBGC) termination of the salaried employees’ full pension plan violated the law.

RELATED: Judge rules against Delphi retirees in federal case

“The record establishes that the salaried plan was severely underfunded for guaranteed benefits at the time of termination — approximately 50 percent funded,” Tarnow wrote. “There was no entity willing to sponsor the salaried plan upon Delphi’s liquidation.”

“THIS CASE IS CLOSED,” the most recent entry in the case’s court docket says. The plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment was denied while the PBGC’s motion for summary judgment was granted.

The PBGC took on Delphi’s pension obligation in 2009, after Delphi had spent nearly four years in bankruptcy.

According to its payment formulas, the PBGC often pays less than retirees had expected to be paid from their former private employers. In September 2009, a group of salaried Delphi retirees sued to restore their full pensions.

The approximately 20,000 salaried retiree plaintiffs have spent nine-and-a-half years and about $8 million in the case.

Leaders of the group are now speaking with attorneys about the possibility of an appeal.

“We’re in the process of determining that right now,” Tom Rose, a Washington Twp. resident and a Delphi retiree, said Wednesday. “The ruling came out against us. We were very disappointed and surprised, frankly.”

“We have to consider our chances in appeal, the likelihood of success,” Rose added.