reliance on quoted benefits

[Gary]

there have been lawsuits in situations where an employee was promised a benefit and then the sponsor says it was a mistake and s/b less. some courts have upheld the incorrect benefit due to reliance on such a benefit.

does or can this apply when a pensioner has been receiving a pension for a few years and then the sponsor says there was a mistake and it s/b lower?

i.e. can the potentially incorrect original benefit be upheld?

thanks.

gary

[mwyatt]

Well, here in Mass a few years back we had an infamous case of a retired schoolteacher having been paid her annual benefit monthly for several years (we're talking high 6 figure overpayment here). She of course claimed "I didn't know" but somehow had about 8 different semi-anonymous bank accounts holding the overpayments (you would think that one would notice if your payment is coming in at 12 times your anticipated amount). I don't remember the outcome but the Commonwealth was certainly not amused and took steps to recover the overpayments. I always wondered who was doing the reconciliation of the pension plan assets myself...