You will find short stories on this site. Most are autobiographical. Some are fiction.

CORPORATE THEFT

I was a project manager for the Facilities Department of Kaiser-Permanente (KP) Over the eleven years that I worked there, I invested a portion of my salary in the KP retirement program. KP matched my contributions. Each month, I saved the maximum amount the company would allow. By the time I retired, I had saved $48,000 in the KP retirement program.

Upon my retirement, I was given a choice. I could have my savings placed in an annuity managed by Mutual of Omaha, * or I could have the funds placed in a personal account with Fidelity. If I were to choose the annuity, I would receive a monthly check. If I should die before Mutual of Omaha had paid back all of my retirement savings, they would keep the balance. The annuity would pay 3% interest. I would not benefit from the investment of my money in the stock market or the greater interest that I would earn in treasury instruments. I chose to have my funds transferred to a personal brokerage account. I wanted to have control of them and to have the option of withdrawing them should I have a special need, such as medical expenses or an investment opportunity.

After retiring, I invested most of my funds in the stock market and left the rest in a Fidelity interest-bearing cash reserve fund. Over the subsequent years, I received mail from Fidelity, such as receipts for transactions, statements, and notifications of company policy, none of which required action from me. I took little interest in this mail and allowed it to pile up on the back of my desk. Approximately once a month, I would go through the Fidelity pile. On one such occasion, I found a letter informing me that my account was slated to be converted into an annuity managed by a large insurance company, I remember it being Mutual of Omaha. It explained that I would receive 3% interest on my money. I computed the consequences. I figured that this arrangement would result in my receiving a monthly check of $158.50 for the rest of my life. At this payout rate, my retirement savings would gradually be returned by my 80th birthday. The letter informed me that if I wished to avoid this from happening, I would have to complete, sign, and submit the enclosed form declining this conversion. This letter was dated three weeks earlier. There was a deadline. It was in two days. I phoned the insurance company and explained that there must be some mistake, that the funds in my Fidelity account are in my name, and that it was not possible for any action to be taken that I had not initiated. The kind woman on the other end of the line informed me that the ‘individual’ brokerage account, which Kaiser Permanente had set up in my name, was actually under a primary account owned by Kaiser Permanente. I told her that there had been no mention of this when I retired. I believed that my Fidelity account was mine alone. She responded, “Well, in order for that to have been the case, you would have had to transfer your funds to your own private Fidelity account.” “I had thought that was what I had done when I opted out of the annuity in the first place. There should have been no reason for me to transfer my funds to another account when I was led to believe that my savings were already in a personal Fidelity account.” I insisted that I did not want this conversion to occur. She told me, “We cannot act to stop the conversion based on a phone call. The signed form has to be in our hands by the deadline to avoid it.” I told her that I would mail it today, but that it was not likely to be in their hands by the deadline. She said, “Sorry, but it is out of our hands. We are following the requirements of the fund owner, Kaiser Permanente.”

I then phoned Kaiser, and after being shuffled around to several different people, I was transferred to a man familiar with these retirement accounts. He said, “Your situation was not unique. Many former employees were blindsided by these transfers.” “So what can be done about it?” I asked. He answered, “Your retirement funds are no longer in our hands. We have transferred those accounts to Mutual of Omaha; you will have to deal with them.”

It is difficult, even now, many years later, to express how frustrated and infuriated I felt toward my former employer. Kaiser must have worked out some deal with Mutual of Omaha whereby KP would profit from the transfer of our retirement accounts to Mutual of Omaha annuities. Given that both corporations would benefit by these transfers, it was their desire to make it as difficult as possible to stop the transfer of former employee’s retirement accounts.

I waited to see if they would honor my request. Surely they would respect my phone instructions backed up by the signed form. Two months passed with no word from KP or Mutual of Omaha. While I waited, the stock that I had held in my Fidelity portfolio increased in value. Eventually, I received a check for $158.50 from Mutual of Omaha, and I realized that they had ignored my call and my letter. I was 69 at the time. My father had died at age 59. I didn’t expect to live long enough for my funds to be returned to me. Besides, I didn’t need these paltry checks each month. Least of all, did I want Mutual of Omaha to keep the balance of my retirement savings should I die before my savings were returned.

I phoned them again to complain that I had told them I didn’t want that to occur, and I had sent the signed form to them to that effect. Despite my efforts to stop it, they had taken my retirement funds and converted them into an annuity that I did not want. A sweet-talking lady told me, “There is no record that we received your signed form. Your retirement account is now invested in an annuity.” She then tried to convince me that this was the best use of my retirement money. I thought, for whom?

It seemed I had nowhere to turn. Several more seething months passed. With each month, I would get a measly check, reminding me of the KP theft. I decided to seek the advice of an attorney. I explained my situation to my high school friend, John Gould, a retired attorney. He agreed that an injustice had occurred and offered to make some phone calls. As an attorney, John was able to push his way past the sweet-talking clerks to reach a KP lawyer. He persuaded the KP lawyer to look into my plea for restitution of my personal Fidelity account. The KP lawyer investigated my situation and concluded that, indeed, an injustice had been done to me. After some negotiation, most of which John handled, Kaiser Permanente restored my Fidelity account exactly as it had been before they took it. This included the increased value of the stock I held at the time they took my it. They also paid the small amount of interest that I would have earned in the Fidelity cash reserve fund. KP even paid John’s attorney fees.

Reflecting on this, I realize that while retaining an attorney can escalate a situation, resulting in expensive acrimony. There are times when justice is on your side, that having an attorney is the only way to reach a satisfactory outcome.