The GE Retirement Income Opportunity suit is currently going on in the Southern District of Florida. If you are a retired employee or if you know someone who claims to be a former employee, this lawsuit may be worth looking into. If you think that the lawsuit may be worth your time to be a part of then you should contact an experienced personal injury attorney immediately. While there may be merit to the lawsuit, it is important to remember that retirees cannot sue for benefits until they have reached the age of 65. If you are retired and think that you may be eligible to join the suit, contact an attorney today.
According to the lawsuit, the companies hired at least two psychologists to assess the abilities and personality of their employees.
One of the psychologists was married. This was supposed to be a third party impartial assessment. Yet neither psychologist came forward with information pertaining to whether the evaluation ever took place. There were numerous meetings between these third parties with the objective of getting more money out of the employees.
What makes this situation even more outrageous is that during one of these meetings, one of the company representatives reportedly asked if they could speed up the retirement process.
After the request was made, the other psychologist allegedly said that he would provide information to them. He further stated that he thought the company was doing everything they can for employees. The attorney stated that these psychologists had given him all of the information that they received and that they were only trying to get more money out of the retiree. Why would the attorneys go through the trouble to give the defendant attorneys this information if they knew that it didn’t add up? Retirees do not have any reason to believe that this was not an honest assessment.
There are so many questions that have yet to be answered in regards to the GE retirees’ lawsuit.
How did the company gain access to sensitive data pertaining to the health and well-being of its senior citizens? Were the workers aware of the risk of their own health being affected by working for the company? Was there any attempt to cover up or downplay the risks inherent in GE products? Did senior citizens actually have any input into the decision to increase healthcare costs and reduce benefits?
One of the more blatant examples of how attorneys are stooping to the level of the worker is when they represent a group of GE retirees who are suing the company for health benefits.
The fact that the workers brought this suit make up a large portion of the entire class of people suing GE is astounding. These workers actually had the idea that they would be getting some form of health benefit when they decided to retire from the company, yet none of the rest of the employees ever told them that they would be receiving anything at all. The fact that many of these people are receiving reduced benefits and/or higher premiums as a result of being wrongfully classed as “non-productive” is what is truly appalling. This type of injustice must be stopped.
If the company truly believes that the plaintiffs’ health benefits and premiums are fair and just, then they should pay the money. It is disgusting that the company will go through all of this to defend themselves and deflect blame from themselves. The fact that the company is trying to use this lawsuit as leverage against the plaintiffs should be an open warning to any employer. If you get caught up in this type of situation, you could possibly lose your job.
There is hope, however. Attorneys are beginning to recognize the merit of the case and the potential for a victory for the plaintiffs.
There are also more than a few Class action lawsuits currently in the works. In addition to saving the company billions of dollars, the workers stand to receive greater benefits than any other GE retiree lawsuit so far. No matter what the final outcome may be, the lesson has to be learned that safety precautions must be followed at all times.
Hopefully, the guilty parties will be made to pay for their negligence. If not, then this lawsuit will help draw attention to the importance of safety precautions in the workplace. The GE retiree health care plan was not designed to jeopardize the health of the workers. However, the company did not care about the dangers of exposure to lead until recently. If it had been up to them to make the changes, then they could have prevented all of these problems.
