This is the promised update on the luncheon meeting of the Sprint Embarq Retirees in the Orlando area.  The luncheon was at the Golden Corral on 434 near 436 on Monday, 9-24-07.  There were 22 retirees that attended.  I received many responses from retirees that were out of town. 

 

I reported on Activities taken by the Carolina Group (Old Carolina Telephone) of retirees.  Basically, they have obtained approx. 1000 retirees on their roster.  They have law firm out of Durham NC which has agreed to represent them and they are currently collecting a defense fund which consists of asking each affected retiree to contribute $100.00.  The law firm is Glenn, Mills and Fisher PA.  They are only representing the Carolina Telephone group at this time.  Representation does not include the former Centel retirees or other groups acquired.  Their Attorney has filed a written memo with the EEOC and sent a letter to Embarq's Randal T. Parker requesting that benefits be restored.  This appears to be the first step in litigation, to formally request the violator to desist of their own accord.  It is reported that Embarq has notified current employees in that area to not discuss any of their business dealing with any one, especially the media, and to refer all interrogators to their official spokesman. I think they are beginning to feel the wind from the storm they have created.

 

Next I reported our own efforts here in Florida.  Bob King, Bob Moody, Jim Clay and I have met with several Attorneys in our search to find one to represent us.  Generally what we here is that they don't have expertise in this area and if they do they are not large enough to tackle a suit against a large corporation.  We were finally referred to the Sandals & Associates P.A. Law Firm in Philadelphia, who specializes in employee benefits litigation against large corporations.  We discussed our plight with Attorney Alan Sandals, the founder, and he was interested.  At this point he has not agreed to take our case but has advised us and is considering taking it.  He developed a Client Attorney Interest Form that he recommended that any and all affected retirees fill out and send in.  This is primarily to show interest and get some demographics.  It does not represent a commitment.  I will attach a copy to this memo and any one who hasn't filled out one and is interested should do so.  At this point, we have decided that it would be best to send the forms to me via email, fax, or us mail. We will then build a data base and forward the forms to the Attorney.  Mr. Sandals has interest in representing us but feels and is encouraging us to reach out to everyone across the country and get them involved.  We only have a limited opportunity to do this.  If anyone knows of anyone in other areas they should spread the word.  At this point we don't know what litigation will cost.  Most retirees can't afford much.  However, we need to understand that Attorney's take cases on a contingency basis when they have a pretty sure deal.  In our case if we win, the attorneys will ask the court to require Embarq to foot the bill.  If we loose they will only have us to fall back on.  Therefore it becomes important to involve as many retirees as possible.  1000 retirees at $100 apiece would result in $100,000.00.  It becomes significant with numbers.

 

Anyone wanting to review the credentials for this firm can go to their website at www.sandalslaw.com.

 

We were advised that generally, the government, AARP and other entities recognize that most corporations reserve the right to discontinue benefits.  However, If many of us were not told this at the time of our retirement and were given the impression that these benefits were good for a life time, then there may be a case for legal action due to misleading employees or retirees, no matter what they print in their books.

 

There is a website for Florida Sprint/Embarq retirees.  The website is www.sflltdretiree.com. The site is administered by Bob Rentfrow, Formerly of Naples Florida.  Contact Bob if you need more info on the site and feel free to visit it.  Bob's email address is bob@brentfrow.com

 

We are trying to organize a steering committee to help push this along.  Thus far we have the following individuals in Florida:

Crestview/Ft. Walton    Jim Clay

Ocala                            Bob King

Leesburg                       Bob Moody

Tallahassee                    Sam Wahlen

 

We are looking for persons to help with this effort in the Orlando area, Avon Park, Fort Myers and Naples areas.

 

We have a treasurer and I will provide information on that in another email.  We need to raise some petty cash funds to cover immediate expenses which will be required to contact everyone.  So far we only have email contacts and it will be necessary to do mailings to retirees that we don't have email addresses for.  The 1998 Florida retiree directory has 1840 retirees listed.  We only have about 170 email addresses so far.

 

Monies collected so far are:  $314.00 from the Leesburg/Ocala group, donated at a breakfast held in Leesburg.

$249.00 collected from the Orlando group at the luncheon.  Total = $563.  With today's cost of postage it will cost $441.00 to send mail to 1000 retirees.                  

 

We are inviting those that have not contributed to send $5, $10 or $20 to help with expenses.  We are trying to open a temporary bank account to keep funds in.  As soon as I have the information I will provide it to everyone.

 

Bottom line, Embarq is dumping many of the retirees at a time when they are older, and can't afford at the age, to buy insurance, who didn't earlier because they thought they had the benefits for life.  For most of us, Our retirement contract was with Sprint, who has slickly dumped the LTD group and formed Embarq.  The LTD group has the greatest # of employees and retirees.  And now, just over 1 year later, Embarq is dumping us.  They want to get rid of some of the retirement burden to make the books look better, better for a merger.  And don't be succored by their excuse of needing to be competitive.  The Embarq Corp is doing quite well,  The market thinks they are in good shape.  I would venture to guess that their exec pay is greater than what they will save per year by dumping the older crowd. 

 

Do I Sound Mad.  I thought I was over it but am having a flash back.

 

We will soon announce a work meeting to work on mailings and other items.

 

 

 
 

Asa R Waters

407-521-7881

cell 407-489-2680