2.28.17 – (LAA) – Update on Prefunding Balance Letter Sent to Employees – LAA

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Tuesday, February 28th, 2017

Update on Prefunding Letter Sent to Employees – LAA

As reported in yesterday’s Special Hotline, APFA has been receiving queries from the membership about pre-funding statements that started arriving in the mail over the weekend from Empower. After reaching out to the Company, who was also unaware of the issue, management has confirmed that these letters were sent in error, and they did not authorize or approve the content.

Employee contributions for prefunding were refunded to all eligible Flight Attendants who had not retired prior to the ratification of the LBFO in late 2012 when subsidized Retiree Medical insurance was terminated. APFA filed a grievance over the agreement which included the return of Company matched contributions to Flight Attendants. That grievance went to arbitration in late 2015, and the final ruling was in favor of the Company. These statements from Empower show the current balance of the Company match that is not eligible for a withdrawal.

Letters from Empower are expected to go out to all affected employees by week’s end explaining the error. Emails from the Company will also be going out.

APFA leadership has expressed their frustration and anger to the Company over these statements. Losing the arbitration and the Company matched funds we felt we deserved was hard enough, so receiving a statement showing the balance of those matched funds now is like rubbing salt in a wound.

Ron Harris
APFA National Retirement Specialist
[email protected]