JPMorgan Chase is refusing to pay a monthly pension to a widow whose husband worked at the bank for 10 years before his untimely death.
Elaine Silverberg’s departed spouse Melvyn worked as a systems analyst at Chase Manhattan Bank from 1969 to 1979, reports the New York Post.
Melvyn died in 1988 due to multiple organ failure and since then, Elaine has been in a standoff with JPMorgan Chase.
The bank has refused to disburse an estimated $53,000 pension accumulated by Melvyn for more than three decades. A letter from the Social Security Administration seen by the New York Post indicates that Melvyn’s untouched pension account could give Elaine an extra $331 per month.
Elaine says she feels like the bank has squished her like a bug.
“If Jamie Dimon were aware of this, he would wish to do the right thing and honor the pension.
Nothing is stopping them from doing so. You would think the bank would want to do the right thing. They have treated me like an insignificant cockroach just to be stepped on.”
The lending giant says that while Melvyn is entitled to a vested retirement package prior to his departure from the bank, he failed to fill out paperwork that would have declared Elaine as the beneficiary of the pension after his passing.
About 40 years ago, Ronald Raegan’s administration passed the Retirement Equity Act of 1984, which requires qualified pension plans to provide automatic survivor benefits. But because Melvyn left the bank before the law was passed, JPMorgan argues that his failure to fill out a form means Elaine isn’t entitled to anything.
Says a JPMorgan spokesperson,
“While we sympathize with Mrs. Silverberg, she is asking us to pay without necessary documentation. We follow the terms of our pension plan that would not permit individual exceptions.”
JPMorgan merged with Chase Manhattan Bank in 2000. Last quarter, the bank recorded $12.9 billion in net income.
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