Washington, D.C.- Today, Congressman Mike Turner (OH-10) announced that his bill, the “Susan Muffley Act of 2022”, is scheduled for a vote in the House on Wednesday. This bill restores pensions of Delphi Salaried Retirees (DSR) that were terminated following General Motors' bankruptcy in 2009. Turner introduced the bipartisan legislation in March 2022 alongside Representative Dan Kildee (MI-5).
"Restoring the pensions of the Delphi Salaried Retirees is long overdue and finally Congress is seeking to correct this unjustifiable wrong," said Turner. "Through battling three Administrations and taking this fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, I have worked alongside these retirees for the last 13 years to finally make them financially whole. Tomorrow’s vote in the House is a critical step to bringing this issue affecting more than 5 thousand Ohioans to a resolution and returning to them the benefits they so rightly earned."
The “Susan Muffley Act” provides backpay for the pension payments that should have been received for the past 13 years via a lump sum payment equivalent to the difference between any benefits that have paid out and what retirees would have been paid without limitations, plus 6 percent interest. It would also restore full pension payments going forward as if never disrupted. There are more than 21 thousand Delphi retirees impacted by this legislation, with approximately 5,180 retirees residing in Ohio.
Background:
In the Great Recession of 2009, car parts manufacturer Delphi faced bankruptcy. The company was acquired by General Motors (GM), which also faced financial hardship during that time. As part of GM’s bailout, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) took trusteeship of Delphi employees’ pensions at the direction of the Obama Administration.
One group employed by Delphi was a group of 20 thousand salaried employees, including those who worked at the company’s plant in Dayton. Retirement benefits for these employees included a single-employer pension. GM decided to close the plant and voluntarily terminate the fully funded pension of the salaried employees. At that point, the PBGC became the sole trustee of the plan. The salaried employees then formed the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association (DSRA).
Since then, Congressman Turner has been working closely with the DSRA to restore their benefits throughout the Obama, Trump, and Biden Administrations.
In October 2020, at the urging of Congressman Turner, former President Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the PBGC to examine the financial status of Delphi Salaried Retirees’ pension fund and to investigate administrative or legislative pathways for the restoration of the fund.
In December 2021, Turner filed an Amicus Brief when the DSRA filed for Cert with the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dennis Black, et al. v. PBGC case. This past January the case was denied cert, thus Turner authored the “Susan Muffley Act” as the only option to wholly restore the pensions.
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