Published
February 21, 2024
Updated
October 29, 2026
About 1,788 Howard University retirees and beneficiaries who receive a joint-and-survivor pension are covered by a $1.3 million settlement, preliminarily approved on September 18, 2026, that would permanently raise their monthly benefits. No claim form is required; increases would begin after final approval.
What Is the Howard University Pension Settlement?
Howard University and the Retirement Plan Committee of the Howard University Employees’ Retirement Plan have agreed to pay $1.3 million to settle a class action claiming the plan underpaid retirees who take their pension as a joint and survivor annuity. U.S. District Judge Loren L. AliKhan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia preliminarily approved the settlement and provisionally certified a settlement class on September 18, 2026, in Whetstone v. Howard University, No. 1:23-cv-02409.Rather than paying a one-time check, the settlement would permanently increase each class member’s monthly pension and pay a lump sum covering the increases owed between final approval and the date the new amount starts. Howard University denies the claims. The settlement still needs final approval.
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Status
Preliminary Approval
Granted September 18, 2026 · final fairness hearing to be set on or after December 18, 2026
Settlement Amount
$1.3 million
Paid as permanent monthly pension increases plus a retroactive lump sum
Who Is Covered
About 1,788 retirees and beneficiaries
Joint-and-survivor annuities starting January 1, 1995 through December 31, 2024
Claim Form
None — increases are automatic
What the Lawsuit Claimed
The Howard University Employees’ Retirement Plan, a traditional defined benefit pension plan, was frozen in June 2010. Its default benefit is a single life annuity, a monthly payment for the retiree’s lifetime. Married retirees typically receive a joint and survivor annuity instead, which pays a somewhat smaller amount for the retiree’s life and then continues a set percentage to a surviving spouse. Federal pension law requires that survivor annuity to be the “actuarial equivalent” of the single life annuity.The lawsuit, filed in August 2023, claimed the plan converted single life annuities into survivor annuities using a 1984 mortality table and a 7% interest rate. Because people now live longer and interest rates have been lower, the plaintiffs argued those assumptions shrink the survivor benefit below what current Treasury Department rates and tables would produce. The original plaintiff said his conversion cost him $17.99 a month. In September 2024, the court dismissed one claim as untimely but let the claims under ERISA’s actuarial equivalence rule and for breach of fiduciary duty go forward. The parties reached a settlement in principle in May 2025 after court-supervised mediation.
Who Is Covered
The settlement class is all participants and beneficiaries of the plan who are receiving monthly benefit payments as of the measurement date (the first day of the month in which final approval occurs), whose annuity started on or after January 1, 1995 and before January 1, 2025, and who receive a joint and survivor annuity worth less than it would be if their single life annuity had been converted using the interest rates and mortality tables in Section 417(e) of the Internal Revenue Code. Class counsel estimates the class at about 1,788 people.The class was certified under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(1). The court’s order provides for written objections; it does not set up a process for opting out.
How the Pension Increases Would Be Calculated
After attorneys’ fees, costs, case contribution awards and administration expenses are deducted from the $1.3 million, the net amount is split between two groups:- Subgroup A — annuities that started on or after August 17, 2017 — receives 75% of the net amount. Each member’s share is based on an actuary’s estimate of how much that person was underpaid in the past and would be underpaid in the future, and the share is converted into a permanent monthly increase.
- Subgroup B — annuities that started before August 17, 2017 — receives 25%, divided according to the size of each member’s current monthly pension and converted into a permanent monthly increase.
After final approval, a death audit is run on the class data, the actuary prepares each member’s increase, and the new amounts start no later than the first day of the first month beginning 120 days after final approval. Each class member then receives the higher monthly benefit going forward plus a lump sum for the increases accrued since the measurement date. Class counsel may ask for up to one-third of the fund, or $432,900, in fees plus expenses, and for $5,000 case contribution awards for each of the two named plaintiffs. The court decides those requests.
Notice and Key Dates
Angeion Group is the intended settlement administrator. The court ordered the notice sent to class members within 45 days of September 18, 2026, and the administrator will set up a settlement website. Class members do not need to file a claim. Objections must be filed with the court at least 30 days before the final fairness hearing, which the court directed the parties to schedule on or after December 18, 2026; the exact date will appear in the notice.Other retirement plan settlements on OCA include the Dartmouth-Hitchcock retirement plan settlement and the AME Church retirement annuity settlement.
Sources
• Memorandum Opinion and Order granting preliminary approval, Whetstone v. Howard University, No. 1:23-cv-02409 (D.D.C. Sept. 18, 2026), ECF No. 51: opinion (PDF).• Memorandum Opinion on the motion to dismiss (D.D.C. Sept. 12, 2024), ECF No. 25: opinion (PDF).
• CourtListener docket.
For more open class actions keep scrolling below.
Status
Preliminary Approval — Final Hearing Not Yet Set
Case Title
Whetstone v. Howard University
Case Number
1:23-cv-02409
Court
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
Settlement Amount
$1.3 million
Administrator
Angeion Group
Court Opinion
Preliminary Approval Opinion
