Four AT&T Inc. retirees have filed a lawsuit against the telecommunications giant and independent fiduciary State Street Global Advisors, alleging a violation of fiduciary duties related to a 2023 pension buyout transaction.
The lawsuit, filed March 11 in U.S. District Court in Boston, alleges AT&T and SSGA violated their fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 by purchasing group annuity contracts from two Athene Holdings subsidiaries in May 2023, which transferred $8.1 billion in U.S. pension plan liabilities and the responsibility of paying benefits to about 96,000 AT&T retirees and beneficiaries.
The lawsuit — Piercy et al. vs. AT&T Inc. et al., over the purchase of the contracts from Athene Annuity and Life Co. and Athene Annuity & Life Assurance Co. of New York seeks class-action status and claims that removing the benefits from the protection of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. violated their fiduciary duties under ERISA because "Athene is not an entity to be trusted with the retirement income" of the retirees and beneficiaries, according to the filing.
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief requiring AT&T to guarantee retirement benefits, as well as monetary relief including the $360 million that the lawsuit says AT&T received as profit from the pension buyout transaction.
