By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Junior Johnson worked almost 41 years at Formica Corp. in Evendale, but what sticks in his mind is the notice he got last month telling him the monthly pension check he's received for eight years was being cut by $113.09.

Frank Ramsey, left, a Formica retiree, and attorney Marc D. Mezibov, right, of Mezibov & Jenkins, LLP, address other retired Formica employees about miscalculated pension benefits. (Gary Landers photo)

"It was depressing when I got the letter. I felt so bad, I couldn't eat,'' he said.

The Morrow resident is one of several hundred Formica retirees between 1985 and 1998 whose pension benefit was calculated incorrectly, according to a company audit.

In letters last month, the company, which is emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, notified the retirees of their new benefit payment.

Johnson was one of an estimated 150 Formica retirees who met Monday at the Full Gospel Assembly Church in Loveland to consider their options.

The two-hour meeting Monday was part reunion with former co-workers getting reacquainted over fried chicken and cake and part business meeting tinged with bitterness as the retirees learned that the pensions they counted on aren't so certain.

Johnson figures he can live on the reduced benefit but adds: "This really blew my mind. This was something I wasn't expecting. If I had known my pension was going to be less, I never would have retired.''

He like a lot of the retirees took an early retirement buyout from the company and relied on company calculations of what the benefit would be.

The company has told the retirees that it is required by law to recover overpayments, which in some cases amount to thousands of dollars. Although how that will be done remains uncertain.

The laminate maker said an outside auditor found about $1.5 million that was either overpaid or underpaid to 440 of the 624 retirees in its defined-benefit pension plan in the 13-year period.

The company said 295 retirees have received overpayments of varying amounts. Some are as small as $15 or $20 a month, and others as much as $150 a month, according to Harry Bogan, a representative of the IUE-CWA union representing hourly workers.

The company says 145 were underpaid. At least one retiree said his underpayment amounts to 16 cents a month.

The retirees are weighing two courses of action:

• Wait until a law firm retained by the union representing hourly employees receives information from the company about what caused the problem and then decide how to proceed.

• Retain their own lawyer and seek a court order to prevent the company from changing their pensions while they prepare a possible class-action lawsuit.

Marc Mezibov, a Cincinnati employment lawyer invited to the meeting, said he would advocate the latter course if retained by the group.

"You are not the first pension recipients to find themselves in this unfortunate situation,'' he said.

"There are cases where a company has made an attempt to cut back on promises made to their former employees.''

Mezibov and his partner Christian Jenkins said they were prepared to move quickly, if retained, to seek an order to prevent the pensions from being reduced.

But Brogan of the IUE-CWA said that if the retirees hire their own attorney, the union will step aside because the company won't want to deal with two groups. The situation is complicated because about 100 of the retirees were salaried employees and were not represented by the union.

Brogan also cautioned that Mezibov's firm will expect to be paid.

Mezibov said his firm would expect "a reasonable fee'' but added that it would be willing to work with the union's law firm.

Retiree Frank Ramsey was picked to head a retiree committee to meet with the lawyers and collect money for a retainer.

He said the retirees planned another meeting for next Monday to make a decision.

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E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com