Agents Sue New York Life

A group of ten current and former New York Life agents filed suit against the company yesterday claiming the insurer held back retirement benefits and unfairly fired more than 1,300 agents.

The agents allege that when the company introduced a new retirement plan in 1991, the company did not pay the benefits it had promised for agents who had served less than 20 years with the firm. The agents also accuse the company of using an arbitrary quota system to fire agents before they reach the 20 year threshold in a scheme to evade regulation by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Officials with New York Life say the claims are baseless.