Information about the Cooper vs. IBM Lawsuit

Updated 08/03/03

Summary of Judge Murphy's ruling

Full text of Judge Murphy's ruling (1 meg .pdf file)

Who is included in the class action?

Excellent article in the NY Times

IBM's Press Release in response to the ruling

Letter from J.R. MacDonald, Sr. VP of Human Resources, to employees

Consultant Watson Wyatt, not surprisingly, takes IBM's side

Who is included in the class action?

The class was certified for something called "Injunctive Relief" which
means that all people who were employed at IBM from 1995 on are officially part of the class; there is no opting out or opting out. Once IBM loses their appeal, they will have to fix the plan for *EVERYBODY*.

This *DOES* include groups of employees whose pensions were cashed out when they were sold to companies like AT&T, Celestica, or Hitachi. IBM's settlement would include a recalculation of their cash-out mounts, with the difference, plus interest, and possibly damages, being paid to the impacted employees, in a form that can be rolled over to their IRA accounts.

If you were employed at IBM, but left or retired before 1995, then this lawsuit will not impact you.

There is a full set of Qs and As about the case at
http://www.cashpensions.org/IBMCertFAQ.htm that might help answer
additional questions.