Gentlemen,
You should have received Mr. Mounts appeal by now and are reviewing it. I just thought I'd drop you a line about it and your denial to me of my vacation pay because I retired in 1995 and the Arbitration award was dated June 6, 1996.
In my mind that is a pretty lame excuse for not paying a man (me) what he was due. I'll deal with that in time. I like having the $10,000.00 vacation pay you cheated me out of once again owed to me because you relied on information provided from the ignorant, incompetent, inept, individuals in UPS Mis-Management from Northern Illinois and Metro Chicago. As long as you owe me, I will see to it that none of my co-workers and friends are cheated the same as I was. Gentlemen, the impetus is there.
An analogy would be when IBT Local 705 refused my request to go back ten (10) years to find all the widows they cheated out of 5 years of their pension. You guessed it, by the time I got done the DOL/PWBA at my behest in Chicago forced the Local to honor my request. It cost the Fund one and one half (1-1/2) MILLION DOLLARS and I got a HELL of a lot of satisfaction and some very appreciative calls and cards.
That being said you will be interested in one of my recent E-mails not alluded to in Mr. Mount's appeal of eleven (11) pages. Actually there are three (3) of them. The other two (2) will be forwarded shortly with no explanation.
Have a Great Day,
Douglas Page Chapman, Sr.
Signature Held
In a message dated 08/23/2001 9:40:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time, jhotz@earthlink.net writes:
Subj: Your Pension Rights Center Inquiry
Date: 08/23/2001 9:40:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: jhotz@earthlink.net (John Hotz)
To: MULISH1@aol.com
Mr. Chapman,
I received your inquiry to the Pension Rights Center. I had a similar
case at one time in CA dealing with the health plan discriminating
against participants who became eligible for Medicare. The statutes
involved were: 42 USC 1395 (y)(b)(1)(A)(i); also 42 CFR §§ 411.20, 32,
33, 70, 72. I contacted HCFA to initiate an investigation of the plan
and encouraged them to involve the PWBA. We eventually "convinced" the
plan to provide the client the benefits.
I have also forwarded your message on to some additional folks who may
be able to assist you with the SSDI element.. Write me back if you
haven't heard from anyone in the next couple of weeks.
Good luck,
No Signature
John Hotz
Deputy Director
Pension Rights Center
(202) 296-3776
Mr. Hotz,
I certainly hope the fire alarm you encountered yesterday was uneventful. Thank you very much for your quick response to my query. I am sure the statutes you mentioned above will be of value in my pursuit of benefits on behalf of me and my friends.
Perhaps a little background on me would be appropriate as you for some reason thought I was an attorney. I was a Teamster for 36 years and my last 27-1/2 was driving Feeder (Tractor trailer) for United Parcel Service. When I retired in 1995 with a Reciprocal Pension from IBT Locals 705 and 710 here in Chicago, Local 705 reduced my For Certain Pension from 10 years to 5 years. I challenged and appealed their decision and after 2-1/2 years got it reversed and requested that the Trustees of Local 705 go back 10 years and find all the widows and other participants they did the same thing to and make them whole.
To make a long story short, after contacting the DOL/PWBA and the help of Jim Johnson an investigator with the DOL/PWBA here in Chicago and Jill Rutherford at the IRS the Not for Profit and Tax Exempt Organizations Office in Dallas a determination was made that Local 705 made a prohibited Benefit reduction. After keeping in contact with Jim Johnson over the years and my finding 5 widows with my posts on the Internet Jim Johnson got involved once more and forced the Local to honor my request at the cost of approximately 1-1/2 million dollars in back benefits owed the widows of Participants of IBT Local 705 this year.
IBT Local 705 also made an illegal 401h maneuver from 1991 through 1996 to the tune of taking 16 million dollars from the Pension Fund to subsidize the Health and Welfare Fund with UPS Participants contributions to the Pension Fund. We UPS Participants receive no Benefits from the Union Health and Welfare Fund therefore making the transaction illegal. I appeared before the Special Master the Honorable Judge Frank McGarr and the Honorable Blanche M. Manning in 92 C 7042 in the 7th Circuit several times and filed objections, briefs, motions to the Settlement agreement on behalf of 160 UPS Participants which resulted in Judge manning culling out the illegal transfer (401h) maneuver allowing Mr. Jim Johnson at the behest of me and 2 of my friends and many trips to his office resulted in the repayment of the 16 million + penalties amounting to 20 million being put back into the Pension Fund in 1999.
Because of some arbitrary and capricious decisions by UPS and the ambiguous Plan Documents we were able to get Medical Coverage for 5 participants after they were retired and reached the age of 52 as stipulated in our Union Contract. United Parcel Service refused them this benefit at first as they claimed the participants had to be 52 when they retired. We contacted the DOL/PWBA in Atlanta and with the Help of Mr. Jack Joyner an investigator in that office my friends received their medical benefits because of a favorable determination by Mr. Jack Joyner on that issue.
I have a class Action Suit which was filed in CONNECTICUT (3:00CV1723 (CFD) which has been moved to the 11th Circuit as part of MDL-1334- In re Managed Care Litigation against AETNA with regard to the Usual and Customary Rates (UCR) issue which AETNA is trying to shove down our throats with the blessings of United Parcel Service.
The present matter, which I contacted you about with regard to SSDI Benefits being paid by AETNA/UPS, is just one more instance of UPS trying to get out from under their Contractually guaranteed Benefits. However, this issue in my humble opinion is the most serious violation we have encountered to date and the most important. That is why I have been seeking assistance from every source available. AETNA/UPS is at present paying second after SSDI paid first for some participants, which I have documentation on. I just sent an appeal on Monday 8-20-01 on behalf of their denial of benefits as the secondary provider to my friend of 35 years. If they deny the appeal I want to have any and all information available to provide the DOL/PWBA, SS Administration, ADA, as well as those other agencies governing and involved in the denial of benefits due a participant under ERISA Law.
I have gone into great detail here in order to give you a little background. I appreciate your taking the time and effort to respond to my query and your taking the extra effort to call yesterday. I sincerely believe we will win these benefits because of Law as well as the inexcusable inept, inconsistencies contained in the Plan Documents and the Summary Plan Description and Union Contract.
I also believe this matter would be of great interest to you folks at the Pension Rights Center. We have broken new ground in the last 6 years and will continue to do the same in the future. I have found that I have more latitude and am able to sustain many arguments albeit in a rather crude fashion sometimes as an advocate/participant that an attorney could never get away with. For that reason I intend to continue with those same tactics now and in the future. AETNA/UPS would love to have me go away or ascertain legal representation such as the UCR Class Action suit mentioned above knowing they can tie us up in the court system hoping we die or give up in the interim.
If you are interested in following this matter as I have outlined above I would be happy to send you a packet of information that shows the strides and results made thus far with regard to the SSDI query and other efforts to right wrongs perpetrated on the Participants of our Teamster Locals and AETNA/UPS.
Again, thank you very much for your time and effort on our behalf. Any and all information you can send by snail mail, fax, e-mail or by phone will be greatly appreciated. I see you have sent me other links, sites, etc., in a second e-mail after we spoke yesterday. I haven't gone over them as of yet but I assure you I will. No stone will be left unturned.
Sincerely,
Signature Held
Douglas Page Chapman Sr.
6619 Dralle Road
Monee, IL. 60449-9431
708-534-2472 - phone
708-534-0490 - fax
