PHILADELPHIA -- A lawsuit filed in early February claims that convenience-store retailer Wawa Inc. violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by allegedly barring workers who left the company from maintaining company stock.
A former Wawa employee who spent 17 years with the company has proposed a class-action lawsuit contending that the retailer reneged on an agreement to allow workers no longer with the company to maintain their company stock as its value continues to grow.
The suit was filed this week by former employee Greg Pfeifer, who worked for the company from 1992 to 2009, reported BizPhilly.
During that time, he accrued the company’s private stock through its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and watched that stock grow as the company grew from regional chain to super-regional chain with locations up and down the East Coast.
Pfeifer claims that Wawa backed out of an agreement to allow former employees to keep their growing Wawa stock until they retire or turn 68 years old, the point at which beneficiaries are required to cash out. The suit alleges that Wawa altered its policy in August 2015, forcing former employees to sell and prohibiting those who leave the company in the future from keeping company stock.
Wawa spokesperson Lori Bruce told CSP Daily News, "We cannot comment on active litigation."
She said, "Our [ESOP] is a strong, employee benefit that invests a significant amount of annual profits in Wawa stock for all active, eligible Wawa associates. This plan has been in place for over two decades and has grown to represent approximately 41% ownership of our company. We remain committed to the concept of shared ownership for the thousands of Wawa associates that our customers count on every day."
Plaintiffs in the case are seeking compensation from Wawa for any losses suffered as a result of the alleged policy change and a reversal of the alleged rule barring former employees from keeping company stock, said BizPhilly. They are also calling for the replacement of Wawa's retirement plans committee with an independent fiduciary.
Wawa, a chain of more than 700 convenience stores located in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Florida, is based in Wawa, Pa.
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