American Airlines Accused of Using Outdated Pension Formula (1)

American Airlines Inc. shorts the pension benefits of certain married workers by using outdated assumptions about life expectancy, a new lawsuit claims.

The proposed class action, filed Dec. 11 in a Texas federal court, accuses the airline of calculating certain forms of spousal pension benefits by using mortality tables that haven’t been updated for more than 30 years. This is “inherently unreasonable” given improvements in health and lifespan, and it causes workers to “unknowingly forfeit” part of their pensions, the lawsuit claims.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. was accused of similar violations in a proposed class action filed earlier this month. ...