Two former employees of Newton Square, Pa.-based Catholic Health East have filed a federal lawsuit, claiming the system wrongfully uses its "church plan" pension status and that the system's pension plans are underfunded by more than $438 million, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report.
CHE's defined benefit pension plan is listed as a "church plan" under federal pension rules. Plans under this category are generally unregulated and do not have to file detailed annual reports to federal agencies.
The former employees alleged the system improperly claims a religious status to "lighten its pension obligations and liabilities, not to adhere to a religious faith," according to the report.
The suit argued the hospital system should not quality for church-plan status, which it allegedly uses unconstitutionally and to the disadvantage of CHE competitors, according to the report.
"[CHE] is long since removed from the days when nuns ran the hospitals, spread the gospel and faithfully stewarded retirement assets for their employees," the suit claims, according to the report.
Comment from CHE was not included in the report.
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CHE's defined benefit pension plan is listed as a "church plan" under federal pension rules. Plans under this category are generally unregulated and do not have to file detailed annual reports to federal agencies.
The former employees alleged the system improperly claims a religious status to "lighten its pension obligations and liabilities, not to adhere to a religious faith," according to the report.
The suit argued the hospital system should not quality for church-plan status, which it allegedly uses unconstitutionally and to the disadvantage of CHE competitors, according to the report.
"[CHE] is long since removed from the days when nuns ran the hospitals, spread the gospel and faithfully stewarded retirement assets for their employees," the suit claims, according to the report.
Comment from CHE was not included in the report.
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