Volume 22, Issue 1 Summer, 2019 OCTOBER 15, 2018— SEARS HOLDINGS DECLARES BANKRUPTCY MARCH 15, 2019— SEARS CANCELS RETIREES LIFE INSURANCE MAY 29, 2019— RETIREES SEEK BANKRUPTCY COURT ASSISTANCE As disclosed in the winter issue of Straight Talk, last executive officer of the company. However, he remains October Sears Holdings filed for debt relief under Chap- chairman of the board. ter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy The company’s board created an Office of the CEO, Court for the Southern District of New York. which will be responsible for managing the company’s As part of the actions taken by the company on Oc- day-to-day operations during the bankruptcy process. tober 15, 2018, Eddie Lampert stepped down as chief This Office of the CEO is composed of Robert A. Riecker, chief financial officer; Leena Munjal, chief digital officer, customer experience and integrated retail; and Greg- ory Ladley, president of apparel and footwear. Lampert, ever the optimist, is bet- ting on Sears’s survival. At an continued on page 2 This issue of STRAIGHT TALK: Bankruptcy, Cancellation & Court Assistance p. 1 Labor Department Puzzled p. 4 Lawmakers & Mnuchin p. 5 Retirees Fight Termination p. 6 Sears Atlanta Retiree Club p. 7 Sears Sues Eddie Lampert p. 8 Lampert Has New Opponents p. 9 Chairman’s Page p. 10 Sears Holdings Targets Retirees p. 12 Sears Corporate Headquarters —STRAIGHT TALK Summer 2019— 1 Bankruptcy continued from page 1 employee gath- ward “to serving our members … just as we have for ering at Sears’s headquarters after the bankruptcy was the past 125 years.” announced, he told employees, “I don’t view (the actions Retirees worked long and hard during their careers taken today) as a funeral, but as a new beginning.” with Sears to build the company into the successful Sears Cancels Retirees’ Life Insurance general merchandiser it once was. As a result of this It was not a “new beginning” for Sears’s retirees on promised benefit, many retirees cancelled their other March 15, 2019, when the company sent a letter dated life insurance and trusted that Sears would honor March 15 that Sears Holdings, now known as Trans- its commitment for retiree life insurance. They knew form Holdco LLC, announced that it “will no longer that as long as Sears did not liquidate, that their life provide life insurance benefits for retirees … Your insurance would be secure. group benefit terminated March 15, 2019. This let- Now, this trust in a company that retirees worked ter was not signed by an individual, but only by for has been shattered by both the newly created “Sears Holdings Corporation.” Office of the CEO and by the man who lives in Transform Holdco LLC is an American a $40 million Miami mansion, and who privately held company formed to acquire purchased all of Sears’s assets for billions Sears Holdings Corporation assets. The of dollars. new company is owned by Eddie Lampert. However, the company was not totally Following the bankruptcy of Sears Hold- heartless. In the notice of cancellation, ings, Transform Holdco LLC purchased Sears Holdings informed retirees that, substantially all of the assets owned by “We recognize that this situation impacts Sears Holdings for $5.2 billion. you and your family.” To the best of our knowledge, no re- However, the company offered retirees tiree received the cancellation notice Robert A. Rieker, the option to convert all or a portion until three to seven days AFTER the chief financial officer of the amount of their group insur- March 15 cancellation! ance coverage that was previously Since March 15 N.A.R.S.E. paid for by Sears (not to ex- has been deluged with fran- ceed $10,000) into a whole tic phone calls, letters and life policy. emails from retirees as a When asked, N.A.R.S.E. result of this devastating has told our retirees not to decision by Sears to cancel accept the option of conver- the retiree life insurance. sion. The Securian Life This heartless decision Insurance premiums by Sears Holdings has are totally unrealistic caused a financial and noncompetitive and emotional stress Leena Munjal, Gregory Ladley, in today’s insur- on our retirees and chief digital officer, president of apparel ance marketplace. their families. customer experience & footwear & integrated retail As an example, an What was a prom- 80-year-old Sears ised benefit for Office of the CEO retiree from Sears’s retirees Wenatchee, for decades turned into a financial nightmare for many. Washington, told us that for a $10,000 whole life con- The average age of the retiree population affected by version insurance policy from Securian it would cost the elimination of the retiree life insurance is 80, with him $1,456.90 per quarter or only $5,827.60 per year!! some in their 90s. In contrast, a New York Life Insurance Company Ironically, in a January 17, 2019, letter to retirees, policy for an 80-year-old male continued on page 3 Sears Holdings thanked retirees for their “dedicated service” and said that the company was looking for- —STRAIGHT TALK Summer 2019— 2 Bankruptcy continued from page 2 w o u l d c o s t Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, $120.22 per month or $1,358.60 per year. directing the appointment of a committee of retired employees. These retirees are just two of tens of thou- N.A.R.S.E. has heard from many retirees who could not be- sands of retirees of Sears Roebuck who are entitled to lieve that the company would actually abandon its retirees. a life insurance benefit under a benefit plan that had Historical Update for Sears Holdings been in place for decades. Evidently our former company is either unaware of, As the Bankruptcy Code authorizes retirees to inter- or has ignored the retiree life insurance class action vene and protect their benefits and also permits the lawsuit settlement agreement dating back to 2001. appointment of a committee of retirees to represent As background, then chairman Arthur Martinez in 1997 them, the retirees in this motion requests that the announced that retiree life insurance benefits would Court direct the appointment of a committee to advo- be cut back for all participants who retired after Janu- cate for the thousands of retirees unjustly and illegally ary 1, 1978, at the rate of 10 percent per year on each losing their benefits. retiree’s life insurance amount in excess of $5,000. At As the motion states, the retirees need a committee to the end of 10 years, each retiree would have a $5,000 protect their life insurance benefits because Sears has life insurance policy, regardless of the original amount. unilaterally terminated the retirees’s life insurance In some cases, the original amount was $100,000. benefits without involving the Bankruptcy Court or As a result of this drastic cut-back of the employees’s meeting the other legal requirements. promised life insurance, that was earned by employ- This retiree committee should be formed because ees’s contributions and years of dedicated service, a Sears states they “do not currently have information number of lawsuits were filed against Sears by retirees with respect to the identities of the retirees that were who alleged they had been promised “free” or “paid-up” covered by the” 2002 Settlement Agreement. The re- life insurance for the rest of their lives. tiree committee, with the assistance of N.A.R.S.E., All lawsuits were eventually consolidated in the United can provide information with respect to the identities States District Court for the Northern District of Il- of the members of the class who were covered by the linois and assigned to Judge James B. Moran. Stipulation of Settlement. The case was finally settled during the fall of 2001. Retiree’s Motion Under the terms of the settlement agreement, “Sears has stated its clear intention to ignore its ob- the last year of the 10-year reductions would not ligations to the retirees,” states the motion to form a be implemented and the final insurance amount committee. “The retirees request that the court direct would be the minimum $5,000 stipulated and the appointment of a committee to advocate for the agreed to by Sears plus the amount of the final thousands of retirees unjustly and illegally losing year of reduction that was not to be implemented. their benefits. This retiree life insurance can only be cancelled if In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor objected Sears liquidates and goes out of business. Sears can- to Sears’s plan to end the life insurance without not arbitrarily terminate this insurance as long as the court approval, but Sears responded that it has the company is still in existence. right to “unilaterally amend or terminate the plan at any time.” WHAT SEARS DID ON MARCH 15, 2019, WENT CONTRARY TO THE 2001 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND WAS ALSO A BREACH OF A “It came as really a shock that they would do that, be- FIDUCIARY RELATIONSHIP WITH ITS RETIREES. This was clearly cause that was the last benefit we had,” saidN.A.R.S.E. a betrayal of trust by the company that Sears’s retirees Chairman, Ron Olbrysh, one of the Sears retirees helped build. asking for the retiree committee. Motion Filed with Bankruptcy Court “Retirees relied on Sears to adhere to the Stipulation to Appoint a Retiree Committee of Settlement not to further reduce their life insur- Near the end of May, 2019, Ronald Olbrysh and ance, but that turned out to be a mistake when Sears Richard Bruce filed a motion in the United States terminated their policies,” Olbrysh said.