Major League Baseball has another legal headache on its hands, this time from five former umpires who claim the league cheated them out of millions of dollars in retirement benefits. Not only that, their attorney says the league was basically asking for a lawsuit.
Five retired umpires filed a 44-page complaint in federal court on September 29, alleging MLB used a confusing pension formula that left them with significantly less money than they were owed. According to USA Today, the potential losses total approximately $2 million.
Among those umpires suing Major League Baseball is Joe West, the man who umpired more games than anyone in baseball history.
Joe West And The Other Umpires Claim MLB Deliberately Shortchanged Them
Joining Joe West in the lawsuit are former MLB umpires Gerry Davis, Tom Hallion, Larry Vanover and Jerry Layne. Combined, the five men worked 21,063 regular-season games over 179 seasons. Importantly, according to the lawsuit, all retired after age 65.
Their attorney, Paul Holmes, claims Major League Baseball used a deliberately misleading formula to calculate retirement benefits, particularly for umpires who continued working beyond age 62.
Holmes also claims at least two dozen other retired umpires may have received incorrect pension payments.
“MLB came up with a very unique and confusing benefit formula,” Holmes told USA Today. “So, it was hard to tell what was exactly being promised. They then implemented several different administrative procedures and flat-out made mistakes.”
The lawsuit claims the league failed to disclose higher benefits after age 62, in essence forcing older umpires to retire rather than work longer. Holmes says the mistakes were not an accident.
“When the same mistake is made for multiple people, over and over again, especially when we pointed out the mistakes, it’s not a mistake,” he added. “Once is a mistake; ten to 12 times is a pattern. It was intentional underpayment, hoping they wouldn’t get caught.”
An MLB Executive Allegedly Told Umpires To Sue The League
The umpires began challenging their pension calculations in November 2021, but the league denied their administrative appeals. According to Holmes, an MLB executive eventually told them, “If you don’t like it, sue us.”
Holmes also claims MLB acknowledged mistakes in its calculations and offered to reimburse some of the money. The umpires rejected the offer, believing it wasn’t enough.
MLB declined to comment to USA Today because of the pending litigation.
The lawsuit comes as baseball is already facing potentially major financial changes. MLB owners have reportedly been discussing delaying a proposed salary cap until 2028, with another labor battle potentially looming.