Thomas v. Smithkline Beecham Corp.
| Decision Date | 22 December 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 00-2948.,00-2948. |
| Citation | 297 F.Supp.2d 773 |
| Parties | Louise D. THOMAS, Dennis D. Darden, and Linda Jean Allen, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs v. SMITHKLINE BEECHAM CORPORATION et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
John Shniper, Phoenixville, PA, Joseph A. Osefchen, Philip Stephen Fuoco, Philip Stephen Fuoco, Haddonfield, NJ, Paula R. Markowitz, Markowitz & Richman, Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiffs.
Brian T. Ortelere, Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, David F. McCann, Laurence Z. Shiekman, Michael H. Rosenthal, Pepper Hamilton LLP, Greg A. Rowe, Bazelon Less & Feldman, Philadelphia, PA, for Defendants.
Patrick Joseph Hughes, Connell Foley LLP, Roseland, NJ, for Respondent.
Louise D. Thomas, Dennis D. Darden, and Linda Jean Allen (collectively, "named plaintiffs") bring this action on behalf of themselves and all other similarly situated persons (collectively, "class members") against SmithKline Beecham Corporation ("SKB"), various SKB employee benefit plans ("benefit plans"), and the administrators of those benefit plans ("administrators") (collectively, "defendants" or "SKB"). The plaintiffs seek declaratory, equitable and legal relief establishing their rights to receive benefits from SKB under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act ("ERISA"), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq.
Currently pending before the court are: (1) defendants' motion for summary judgment on counts I through VII of the amended complaint; (2) defendants' motion for summary judgment against individual plaintiff Linda Allen, who is not a member of the certified class; and (3) defendants' motion for summary judgment on counts VIII through XIII of the supplemented amended complaint. Since the arguments in support of defendants' motion for summary judgment against individual plaintiff Allen are identical to their arguments against the class on counts I through VII, Def. Br. II 2,1 Allen's claims for benefits under the retirement plans will not be analyzed separately, but rather will be incorporated into the court's discussion of the class' claims.2 The court has considered the motions for summary judgment of defendants SmithKline Beecham Corporation et al., the accompanying memoranda of law, defendants' statements of undisputed facts, plaintiffs' responses in opposition thereto, and defendants' reply memoranda in further support of their motions for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, defendants' motions are granted in part and denied in part. More specifically, I will grant defendants' motions for summary judgment on plaintiffs' claims contained in counts III, IV, V, VI, VII, XI and XII, and deny defendants' motions for summary judgment on plaintiffs' claims contained in counts I, II, VIII, IX, X and XIII
This class action is based on the allegations of the named plaintiffs that defendants have violated the rights of a large number of individuals to accrue benefits in SKB employee benefit plans. Plaintiffs claim that SKB improperly, but purposefully, classified individuals as "temporary" or "leased" employees, instead of common law employees, in order to deny or delay these employees from attaining eligibility for SKB employee benefits. Based on this practice, on June 9, 2000, Louise Thomas ("Thomas") and Dennis Darden ("Darden") brought this ERISA action against SKB and the administrators of the SKB employee benefit plans on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, seeking a declaratory judgment that the defendants include them as participants in the benefit plans (count I) and requesting injunctive relief in the form of a court appointment of an independent fiduciary for each benefit plan (count II). Also alleged in the complaint are claims that defendants violated: 29 U.S.C. § 1140 by refusing to allow common law employees to participate in the benefit plans (count III); 29 U.S.C. § 1104 by breaching their fiduciary duties (counts IV and V); 29 U.S.C. § 1024(b)(1)(A) by failing to provide documents and information regarding the benefit plans to the plaintiffs (count VI); and, 29 U.S.C. § 1052 by instituting a de facto extension of the minimum service provision of each benefit plan (count VII). On August 8, 2000, Thomas and Darden amended their complaint to add Linda Allen ("Allen") as a named plaintiff and the benefit plans as defendants. This suit was certified as a class action on July 3, 2001 pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Allen, however, is not included in the class, but rather asserts an individual claim for benefits.
On April 3, 2002, plaintiffs filed a motion to supplement their amended complaint, which was granted pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(d) and over defendants' objections on September 5, 2002. The supplement provides greater specificity as to the factual basis for the claims of breach of fiduciary duty and violation of 29 U.S.C. § 1140 raised by plaintiffs in their amended class complaint. These more specific allegations are that defendants' breached their fiduciary duty by: failing to award plaintiffs the vesting and eligibility service credits to which they were entitled (count VIII); failing to keep track of the class members' eligibility for benefits (count IX); and, requiring plaintiffs to provide SKB with detailed information about their temporary service at SKB (count X). Further, plaintiffs allege this information gathering requirement was a pretext for withholding credits owed to certain class members, namely: the approximately 550 class members who did not provide information and were therefore not granted benefits (count XI); and the approximately 250 class members who did provide information, but who nonetheless were not granted benefits (count XII). Finally, plaintiffs allege that defendants breached their fiduciary duty by failing to inform the class members of their right to appeal and the process for doing so (count XIII).
The following facts are undisputed.
The three named plaintiffs "work" or have "worked" at SKB. Thomas received work assignments at SKB from Olsten Temporary Services, an employment agency. Beginning in October 1992, Thomas worked full-time as a coordinator in a SKB warehouse in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Thomas contends that she was a common law employee of SKB. In April 1994, Thomas was laid off by SKB. However, in December 1994, Thomas was notified by SKB that the coordinator job was available, and that, if she was interested in returning to work at SKB, she should report to Kelly Services, an employment agency. Soon thereafter, Thomas reported to Kelly Services, which was located at SKB's King of Prussia warehouse, and returned to work at SKB. On March 1, 1999, Thomas became a full-time active, or "regular," employee of SKB. On October 21, 1999, Thomas, through her attorney, requested that SKB treat her employment prior to March 1, 1999 as common law employment for purposes of SKB's benefit plans. On January 20, 2000, SKB notified Thomas that her employment prior to March 1, 1999 would be treated as that of a "leased employee," and, therefore, she had not begun to accrue benefits until March 1, 1999. Thomas appealed the denial of benefits, but SKB again denied her claims. In April 2000, Thomas received a form letter from SKB stating that SKB might owe her some retirement benefits.
Darden received work assignments at SKB from Kelly Services. Beginning in October 1993, Darden worked full-time as a material handler in a SKB warehouse in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. Darden contends that he was a common law employee of SKB. On March 1, 1999, Darden became a full-time active, or "regular," employee of SKB. On January 21, 2000, Darden, through his attorney, requested that SKB treat his employment prior to March 1, 1999 as common law employment for purposes of SKB's benefit plans. On February 4, 2000, SKB notified Darden that his employment prior to March 1, 1999 would be treated as that of a "leased employee," and, therefore, he had not begun to accrue benefits until March 1, 1999. Darden appealed the denial of benefits, but SKB again denied his claims. In April 2000, Darden received a form letter from SKB stating that SKB might owe him some retirement benefits.
Allen began working on the premises of SKB in 1968 as a "temp" worker. After leaving in 1970 to have a family, she returned to work as a "temp" at SKB in 1978. Soon thereafter, Allen became a regular full-time employee. However, in May 1981, Allen was laid off. In February 1982, Allen returned to work as a part-time "temp" at SKB. In 1988, she began working essentially full-time hours. In May 1994, a supervisor told Allen that she would have to receive her assignment to work at SKB through Kelly Services or she would be laid off. Allen reported to Kelly Services and continued working on the premises of SKB until December 1998 when an injury required her to stop working. Allen was not a full-time active, or "regular," employee at SKB at the time this case was filed or when the class was certified, and did not receive the form letter Thomas and Darden (amongst others) received. Therefore, she is not a member of the class, but rather is an individual plaintiff whose claims are identical to the class' counts I through VII.
In addition to Thomas and Darden, over 1100 other individuals were sent a form letter from SKB in April 2000 regarding an error SKB apparently made in calculating the retirement benefits (or eligibility and vesting credits) of full-time active employees of SKB who had previously worked at SKB through a temporary employment agency. This letter is referred to as the "Dear Colleague" letter. These 1100 other employees constitute the class Thomas and Darden represent.3 The "Dear...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Ensley v. Ford Motor Co.
...must be presumed true, covers each element of a prima facie claim. See Marks, 342 F.3d at 455. Ford cites Thomas v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 297 F.Supp.2d 773 (E.D.Pa. 2003), in support of its assertion that an employer's classification of an employee is not the type of adverse employer co......
-
Keen v. Lockheed Martin Corp.
...also applied the "clear repudiation" rule for accrual of non-fiduciary ERISA claims by contingent workers. Thomas v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 297 F.Supp.2d 773 (E.D.Pa.2003). The Thomas Court found that plaintiffs' claim for denial of benefits did not accrue until plaintiffs had access to ......
-
Pinney v. Aegon Cos. Pension Plan
...103, 107-08 (D.D.C. 2006); Muller v. Am. Mgmt. Ass'n Int'l, 368 F. Supp. 2d 1166, 1172-73 (D. Kan. 2004); Thomas v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 297 F. Supp. 2d 773, 785 (E.D. Pa. 2003); Schultz v. Texaco Inc., 127 F. Supp. 2d 443, 448 (S.D.N.Y. 2001); see also Brennan v. Met. Life Ins. Co., 2......
-
Bamgbose v. Delta-T Group, Inc.
...addressing denial of benefits claims similar to the present one. See, e.g., Keen, 486 F.Supp.2d at 486; Thomas v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 297 F.Supp.2d 773, 783 (E.D.Pa.2003). The Court has not found any cases utilizing the WPCL's three-year limitations period for § 502(a)(1)(B) claims fo......