Takeaway: Retirement plans should not hesitate to enforce plan requirements when beneficiaries and former employees are asking for reclassification under the plan.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision of a district court that had increased the disability retirement benefits of a former NFL player from $135,000 to $265,000 per year and had awarded him more than $1 million in back pay. The appellate court found that the plaintiff failed to show a change in circumstances, as necessary under the retirement plan for him to receive the highest level of disability retirement benefits.
The plaintiff, a former NFL running back, is a participant in the NFL Player Retirement Plan. The plan is a welfare-benefit plan set up under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and jointly administered by the players’ union and NFL club owners. The plaintiff’s many concussions experienced during his eight-year professional football career left him “physically, neurologically and psychologically debilitated,” the appellate court noted, and the 2005-2006 season was his last in the NFL.
In 2010, the plaintiff was first awarded disability benefits under the player retirement plan. After the Social Security Administration (SSA) found him entitled to disability benefits, the plaintiff approached the NFL plan in 2014 and sought reclassification to a higher level of benefits. The plaintiff was awarded a higher tier, but not the highest tier. He did not appeal the...
A front-page article with the byline of veteran New York Times opinion writer Nicholas Kristof is the latest poisonous example of what I call the NGO “halo effect.” Headlined “The Silence That Mee...