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Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-8211
The U. S. Department of Labor today sued Time Warner Inc., Time Inc. and
subsidiaries of Time Inc. and officials of nine corporate pension and health
plans for wrongly denying coverage by the plans to hundreds of employees. The
workers were misclassified as independent contractors or temporary employees
and thus were denied coverage.
"We were hopeful we could settle this issue with Time Warner without
suing," Secretary Herman said. "However, employers must deliver promised
benefits to all eligible employees and we believe some misclassified Time Inc.
employees did not receive benefits they were entitled to."
The lawsuit alleges that the plan fiduciaries -- Time Warner and the
administrative committee that manages the plans -- regularly failed to identify
and include all employees who were eligible to participate in the plans. The
workers were not identified or informed of their right to participate in the
plans and therefore were prevented from obtaining retirement and health related
benefits to which they were otherwise entitled.
The administrative committee is comprised of corporate officers of both
Time Warner and Time Inc. Current and former members named in the lawsuit
include Carolyn K. McCandless, Paul D. Williams, Philip R. Lochner, Jr., Andra
D. Sanders, John LaBarca, George Artandi, Susan Baird, Pat Mulvey, Matt Rudman,
Martin D. Payson, Burt Wasserman, Michael Hayes, Kevin Sene and Richard Engle.
The lawsuit seeks a court order appointing an independent fiduciary to
audit Time Inc. and account for all employees who were misclassified and
prevented from participating in the plans and obtaining benefits. The lawsuit
also seeks a court order requiring Time Warner and Time Inc. to compensate the
misclassified employees by allowing them to retroactively apply for the
benefits to which they were entitled.
The workers were employed by Time Inc., wholly owned by Time Warner,
and its subsidiaries, which include Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Fortune,
Life, Money, People, Entertainment Weekly, Time Life, Inc., Book-of-the-Month
Club and Time Distribution Services. Time Inc. employs approximately 40,000
people nationwide. Time Inc. covered multiple subsidiaries and divisions for
which it sponsored these nine as well as other benefit plans.
The case resulted from an investigation conducted by the New York
Regional Office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into alleged
violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The lawsuit was
filed on Monday, October 26, 1998 in federal district court in Manhattan.
# # # #
(Herman v. Time Warner)
Archived News Release--Caution:
information may be out of date.
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