Hello All,
I worked with Piedmont from 3/1982-9/1987 in Reservations (DCARO, MCORO), Station (RDUTR), and City Ticket Office (TLH, RIC), before leaving the company to return to teaching. In 2005, I contacted PBGC and USAirways, following the advice of a good friend (Thanks Amy) to see if I would eventually qualify for the Piedmont Pension when I retire since the USAirways Benefit Office was closing in Crystal City, VA and USAirways was merging with America West. Unfortunately, USAirways was not able to provide me with any information because I was told that any employee who had left Piedmont before the actual USAirways merger in 1989 had had their files purged. USAirways did not even have a record of me working for Piedmont Airlines. (PBGC was then my only option.) I was required to contact the social security administration and pay for a document to verify that I even worked for Piedmont during my tenure there, and then had to apply for the PBGC Pension Plan; you can imagine how time consuming this all was. In December, 2009, yes, four years later, I received notification from PBGC that I was not eligible for the Piedmont Pension Plan because I had not provided enough information to substantiate my benefit into this plan. Today I spoke with a PBGC representative by phone who advised me that if I could provide some information stating that I would have been vested with Piedmont's Retirement Plan after 5 years (which I along with 1000 other employees at DCARO was told) that I may have a reason to appeal the decision. The PBGC representative also stated that their information states that a Piedmont employee who left the company before the merger was to have had at least 10 years vested in the company before being eligibile for the Pension Plan, but that this number changed to 5 years after the merger in 1989. Of course, none of this makes sense to me as I specifically remember being told as part of our benefit package as a new hire with Piedmont, that we would be vested after 5 years. As you can see, this is now becoming complicated. I have only 10 more days to either file an extension for an appeal or provide documentation of what I was told by Piedmont. If any of you have any information that can assist me with this endeavor, I will be most appreciative.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Lewis