The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association appeal concerning the involuntarily terminated Delphi Salaried Pension Plan.

That termination in 2009 affected nearly 20,000 seniors who worked as salaried employees for the then Delphi Corporation.

The retirees association, in a statement, expressed “profound disappointment” in the denial.

“The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation will continue to be allowed to terminate pensions without the workers and retirees who earned them having any opportunity to even object or check the numbers,” said Bruce Gump, association board chairman. “These men and women continue to suffer the results of the unequal and unfair treatment by the PBGC.”

Adding to the association’s disappointment, he said, is that seven state attorneys general and 17 members of Congress also asked the nation’s high court to hear the case, believing the court should review the legal issues.

The PBGC’s defense in court was summarized in an appellate court statement: If the way we have interpreted the law that allows us to terminate pension plans by a simple agreement with the plan’s administrator was wrong, then nobody in Congress has ever objected.

“Well, now 16 Congressional representatives and one senator have objected and in no uncertain terms in the Amicus (friend of the court) brief they filed supporting our petition to the Supreme Court,” the association continued. “The PBGC needs to admit they were wrong and change their ways. We believe pension plan participants own their pensions and the government has no right to take them without even a hearing.”

Gump explained that denial of the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association petition simply means the court will not take up this case.

“There can be many reasons for that including the fact that they only accept a certain number of cases each year. This does not mean the PBGC did not illegally terminate our pension plan, it simply means they are getting away with it right now. It will be up to others in the future to fix this if they can.”

He noted the negative economic impact to the American economy over the last 13 years just for this group has been estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

“Promised pension benefits remained in the PBGC’s coffers instead of going into the pockets of seniors who earned them and the communities where they live, to help them through their retirement years,” he said.

Concerning the future, Gump noted that the DSRA continues to plead for equal treatment from Congress as retirees represented by labor unions have received from enactment of pension legislation benefiting them. “There is a bipartisan legislative effort to restore our pension plan. The Biden Administration itself has said that the retirees deserve their pensions, and that congressional action will be required. We very much appreciate the efforts of U.S. Reps. Dan Kildee (D-Michigan), Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Tim Ryan (D-Ohio).”