Navigating UAW/GM Retiree Legal Aid: A Detailed Overview
UAW/GM Retiree Benefits Explained
Typically, the benefits to which United Auto Workers retirees are entitled include pension payments, healthcare benefits, life insurance, and death benefits. The pension benefits are provided either by GM or the salaried plan, but the timing and amount of the benefits vary. Most UAW/GMs retirees are part of a pre-2007 plan in which their benefits are paid by GM and generally they are paid immediately in accordance with normal retirement ages and vesting. In addition, there is a group of GM retirees that were transferred to Delphi and whose pensions are being paid by the PBGC.
Healthcare benefits for UAW/GM employees continue through retirement . The level of benefit depends upon the employee’s date of hire, years of service, date of retirement, and date when GM first began charging retirees for healthcare benefits. Even if a UAW/GM retiree obtains other healthcare coverage, he or she remains eligible for healthcare under the UAW-GM plan. Many GM/UAW retirees were terminated from employment during the 2009-2012 period ("the Great Recession") and those employees may be eligible for income from a Special Separation Package or Early Retirement Package.
There are also benefits available to a surviving spouse, such as life insurance benefits and death benefits. A legal service can assist a UAW/GM employee and a surviving spouse with the application and enrollment of the required benefits.