A labor union has accused Dorel Juvenile Group of violating a collective bargaining agreement after the company decided to stop providing certain benefits to 132 retired employees, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis earlier this year by the Central Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters, alleges that Dorel Juvenile Group decided in October 2023 to discontinue its Medicare supplement program and other benefits for certain retirees starting next year “regardless of whether (the former employees) had previously fulfilled the conditions necessary to gain the promised benefits,” according to a copy of the complaint.
The union is seeking, among other things, a court order preventing the company from discontinuing the benefits, as well as an order requiring the company to engage in arbitration. A federal judge has scheduled a status conference for Tuesday.
“The individuals who qualified for the benefits … are almost exclusively retired members … who are living on a fixed income,” the complaint states. “…The brunt of the hardship would fall on the Dorel’s Indiana’s retirees. …(The company has) never offered a rational justification for why they can agree to contractual provisions in a CBA and then unilaterally repudiate them later.”
Dorel Juvenile Group, which is part of Canada-based Dorel Industries Inc., operates a manufacturing plant on State Street on the east side of Columbus. The company makes infant car seats, strollers, developmental toys, infant health and safety aids, among other products, according to its most recent annual report.
The Central Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters is a labor union that represents all hourly production, maintenance, truck drivers and warehouse employees at the Columbus facility except for salaried non-exempt and exempt supervisors, as well as office clerical, technical and professional positions, according to court records.
In the complaint, the union alleges that the company’s decision to discontinue the benefits violated a collective bargaining agreement that governs the wages, working hours and other terms and conditions of employment at the Columbus facility, including benefits for former employees.
Dorel Juvenile Group included in a court filing copies of letters sent to the impacted retirees to notify them that the company was ending its Medicare supplement program, health reimbursement account monthly stipend program basic life insurance program for them effective Jan. 1, 2025.
The notices state that the decision would not impact the retirees’ pensions, except that the monthly deduction for their Medicare supplement would increase starting this past January.
The company, for its part, has argued in a court filing and in email correspondence with the union that “impacted retirees are not subject to the CBA and their unvested benefits are not governed by its provisions.”
The company stated in a formal response to the lawsuit that the impacted individuals “retired on or before Nov. 1, 2022, prior to the term of the CBA” with the union. Court records suggest that the most recent version of the parties’ CBA runs from Sept. 25, 2023, through Sept. 28, 2026.
“The decision was made due to budgetary constraints, prioritizing benefits of active employees,” according to email dated Nov. 9, 2023, from Sarah Ellis, who was the company’s senior director of human resources at the time, that was included in a court filing. “The company selected Jan. 1, 2025, as a courtesy to provide extended notice to retirees to plan for the change.”
Dorel Juvenile Group has rebuffed requests for arbitration and denied formal grievances in late 2023. This past January, the company sent a letter to the union refusing to participate in arbitration, arguing that there was “no arbitrable dispute in this matter.”
As of Friday, the lawsuit was still pending in federal court.
Claims made in filing a lawsuit represent only one side of the case and may be contested in later court action.
