A new class action lawsuit was filed Monday against the Department of Energy on behalf of Hanford Site workers whose pension benefits were reduced when they were transferred from contractors and subcontractors at the Washington state facility to six “enterprise companies” in 1996.
Attorney Douglas McKinley, of Kennewick, Wash., filed the lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on behalf of personnel assigned to the companies as part of a failed economic development strategy in the Hanford area.
The enterprise companies were formed as part of the Hanford cleanup contract awarded to Fluor Hanford in 1996. The new companies were given some work on the Hanford property, but were supposed to find additional off-site work to grow their operations and diversify the Tri-Cities economy. About 2,200 Hanford workers were assigned to the enterprise companies, with most continuing to do the same Hanford work they had done before Fluor won the cleanup contract and some not even changing desks or offices.
However, they no longer accrued years of service toward their pensions provided for their work at Hanford. McKinley said many, if not most, enterprise company workers lost tens of thousands of dollars in pension payments. In the lawsuit he said damages to workers would be proved at trial, but estimated them at $100 million. The lawsuit asks for the recovery of pension losses; for a judgment against the federal government in an amount to be determined at trial; and for attorney fees and expenses.
McKinley filed a similar class action lawsuit in 2016, but it was only for workers at Lockheed Martin Services Inc., the enterprise company that lasted the longest. Two of the six enterprise companies folded by 2000. Lockheed Martin lasted until 2016, with some workers not accruing service toward their pension calculation for 20 years.
