Compliance November 4, 2004

Employees Launch Class-Action against Chemical Company W.R. Grace

November 4, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Employees of chemical and material company W.R. Grace & Co. have filed a class-action lawsuit against their employer, alleging that the company and their pension plan advisor improperly forced them to sell company stock.
Reported by

>The employees, who are represented by lawyers from Waite, Schneider, Bayless & Chesley of Cincinnati, claim that they lost a total of $40 million when the company forced them to sell the stock at a depressed price, according to a press release by the law firm. Upon the sale, the price rose over 300% from $3.50 per share.

>The group claims that Grace hired plan advisor State Street Bank & Trust to rapidly liquidate all of the employees’ Grace stock investment at the artificially low price, and that they were instructed by Grace to not contact the plan advisor, the news release asserts.

“This case is corporate arrogance at its worst,” said lawyer Stan Chesley, in the news release. “Grace just walked all over its employees and destroyed their life savings.”

>The case, filed in the US District Court of Kentucky, will be heard by US District Judge David Bunning.

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