Greg Pfieffer, who worked at Wawa from 1992 to 2009, has sued the company on behalf of a proposed class of 3,000 former workers, claiming that changes to Wawa’s retirement plan violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act,
Philadelphia
magazine reported.
The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Pfeiffer’s suit contends he was told he’d be able to keep Wawa’s private stock through its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) until he retired or reached the age of 68. In August 2015, he contends, Wawa required all former workers to sell their company stock and changed the plan to prevent any current or future workers from holding Wawa stock after they leave the company, according to the report.
Pfeiffer’s attorney, Daniel Feinberg, claims that based on the latest company valuation of $7,652 per share, Pfeiffer, now 42, forfeited at least $30,000 in retirement income since he was forced to sell his stock in August 2015. Feinberg told
Philadelphia
he estimates losses for the whole class at over $20 million to date. The complaint claims that Wawa’s ESOP stock holdings at more than $1 bullion.
A Wawa representative told
Philadelphia
that the company’s ESOP now represents about 41% ownership of the company.
Pfeiffer started in retail sales and worked his way up to the point-of-sale division at company headquarters in Wawa, Pa., the article said.
“The plaintiffs are asking Wawa to make good on any losses suffered by the class since the August rule change, and to eliminate the rule change altogether,” the
Philadelphia
article said. “They’re also requesting that the members of Wawa’s retirement plans committee be removed from their roles as fiduciaries of the ESOP — and that the company employ an independent fiduciary to manage the plan.” (Source:
Philadelphia
, Feb. 18, 2016.)
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