Court blocks EEOC rule exempting retiree health plans from ADEA; Cuts to benefits for younger retirees the likely result, observers say.(News)(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)

Byline: JERRY GEISEL

PHILADELPHIA-A federal court decision last week keeps alive a longstanding legal threat to retiree health care plans that employers thought finally was coming to an end.

Judge Anita Brody of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, responding to a complaint filed by the AARP, permanently blocked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from implementing a rule that would allow employers to continue to provide richer health care benefits to younger retirees than to Medicare-eligible retirees without facing age discrimination charges.

Allowing the EEOC to implement its rule exempting retiree health care plans from the Age Discrimination in Employment Act would permit a practice that a federal appeals court nearly five years ago said violates ADEA, Judge Brody ruled.

The EEOC immediately said it planned to appeal and that …