Feinberg, Jackson, Worthman & Wasow attorneys and co-counsel filed a class action Complaint in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on February 1, 2016, alleging that Wawa, Inc. violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by forcing former employees to sell Wawa stock held in their Wawa, Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (Wawa ESOP) accounts on August 30, 2015.
Since the ESOP’s inception, terminated employee participants in the Wawa ESOP were permitted to continue holding Wawa stock in their individual accounts until they reached retirement age and were given the same distribution rights as retirees. Wawa promised its employees that no plan amendment would divest them of any benefit under the ESOP. Nevertheless, Wawa amended the ESOP in 2015 to take away this benefit and forced over 3,000 terminated employee participants in the ESOP to sell their stock as of August 30, 2015.
Wawa stock has increased substantially in value over the last several years as Wawa has successfully expanded its operations and converted to an S Corporation (thereby eliminating federal income tax liability). Plaintiff Greg Pfeifer and other terminated employee participants contributed to Wawa’s growth and hoped to share in the company’s continued success. Plaintiff alleges that the proposed class has lost millions of dollars as a result of the forced stock sale.
For additional information, please contact Dan Feinberg.