Raytheon wins $59.2m pension case against US

By Bloomberg News

Raytheon Co., the Waltham-based defense contractor, won a $59.2 million case against the US seeking to recover pension deficits for government contract work after the company sold off four units as part of a restructuring plan that began 12 years ago.

Raytheon’s award, issued in a June 27 ruling that was unsealed Monday, was $10 million less than it sought. A judge heard 11 days of testimony in the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington last fall that was followed by closing arguments in February.

“The end goal pursued by both the government and the contractor is to settle up and pay their fair shares to ensure that the pension plans at issue are fully funded to meet the promises made to the employee-participants covered by the pension plans,” US Claims Judge Nancy Firestone wrote in her 149-page ruling.

Raytheon sued the US in 2005 after a contracting officer denied Raytheon’s claims for payment on the grounds that the company hadn’t paid the pension deficits it sought to recover from the government for the employees that remained within Raytheon’s pension plans, according to the ruling.

Jon Kasle, a spokesman for Raytheon, and Mitchell Rivard, a Justice Department spokesman, didn’t immediately respond to e-mail messages seeking comment on the award.