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GM workers await benefits fix
About 22,000 employees are still affected as Fidelity races to fix problems.
If you are experiencing problems with your GM benefits, contact the GM Benefits & Services Center at (800) 489-4646.
The center is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. You can also log on to www.gmbenefits.com for information.
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The company in the middle of the computer glitch that disrupted benefits for thousands of General Motors Corp. employees and retirees says the worst is over, even as the complaints keep coming.
GM consolidated the administration of its various benefit plans in January with Fidelity Investments to streamline and improve the delivery of benefits to 1.1 million employees and retirees and their dependents.
The vast majority of information was successfully transferred, but some data were lost or corrupted, affecting medical insurance, pensions and other coverage for 22,000 people.
Despite Fidelity's assurances that it is resolving the problems, some employees are still waiting for benefits to be restored.
Friday marked the first day of retirement for Jim Janas. But because of the computer problems, the 60-year-old Shelby Township resident won't be getting his GM pension.
"There's no check coming," said Janas, who retired after 12 years with GM and 20 years with its former information technology arm, EDS. "I get an EDS check, but I should be getting a GM check."
While many employees and retirees were unaffected because GM and Fidelity discovered and corrected the errors, many others had prescription coverage suspended, payroll deductions changed without warning and seniority records wiped out.
On Jan. 5, Janas requested that his pension be activated beginning April 1.
"I did exactly what they said to do," Janas said.
Since January, he has called repeatedly to correct the issue.
"It's not like I had to cancel a vacation or anything," Janas said. "But it's going to affect how I've budgeted money and everything."
GM provides health care, life insurance, pensions and other benefits to about 1.1 million employees and retirees and dependents, making the plans among the largest administrative contracts undertaken by a single provider.
Guy Patton, president of Fidelity Investments' human resources services division, which assumed sole responsibility for GM's benefit plans Jan. 1, said these kind of problems don't last longer than three months.
"That's always the case," Patton said. "When we have issues, we do everything in our power to muster the resources, muster intellectual horsepower necessary to get at them as quickly as possible."
But Friday marked three months since Fidelity took over GM's benefits and some employees are still experiencing problems.
Frank Andrews, a retired GM engineer, said he had discrepancies with his GM benefits even before Fidelity took over. Now he must wade through Fidelity's network of call centers.
"I'm being buffaloed," he said. "I was dealing with one or two GM people. All the people I'm talking with at Fidelity, just take the message and put me off."
To date, he's spoken to 22 different Fidelity representatives in three states and Ontario.
"They are very apologetic people," said Andrews, a former engineer who lives in Warren. "They really listen to you. But you get no results."
Since the problems at GM surfaced, some workers at auto parts supplier TRW have come forward with similar issues with Fidelity.
Muriel Trask, 74, saw her prescription drug co-payment soar unexpectedly after Fidelity took over administration of TRW's health care plan late last year.
"I would pay $2 each for my prescriptions," said Trask, who qualifies for coverage because her late husband, Richard, worked for 43 years for the automotive supplier. "I went to get a refill on four prescriptions and they (charged) me $40."
Marty Lamer, president of UAW Local 247, which represents about 120 hourly employees who make steering and suspension components at TRW's Sterling Heights plant, said: "Some people may have a problem but they don't realize it yet."
The union and company are working together toward a resolution, but "issues are ongoing," Lamer said.
Manley Ford, a spokesman for TRW, said the company experienced few problems since turning its plan over to Fidelity -- a move that affected 20,000 salaried personnel and a few hundred hourly employees and retirees and their dependents.
"It's been a fairly clean cut-over," Ford said. "I'm not aware of any problems along the lines of what's being talked about at GM."
TRW has been monitoring Fidelity's performance and comparing it to various efficiency benchmarks.
"They've been beating those, as far as we know," Ford said, adding more than 80 percent of phone calls placed to Fidelity are answered in 20 seconds or less. "We're pretty happy."
The problems at GM and TRW may crop up elsewhere as more companies consolidate their benefit plans under a single provider.
"The idea is a single source makes it easier to communicate," said Dee Edington, a University of Michigan kinesiology professor who has been studying GM's health care system for nine years.
Fidelity manages benefits for 19 million people in 13,000 organizations in the United States.
It uses numerous call centers to protect against regional power outages or weather disturbances that would shut down one centrally located operation, Patton said.
He said problems are inevitable when marrying older computer systems to Fidelity's advanced technology systems. Some of GM's data was written in the outdated COBOL computer language, the automaker admits.
"We are working with Fidelity to resolve any issues as quickly as possible," GM spokeswoman Sharon Baldwin said.
Although 98 percent of GM's 1.1 million plan members were not affected by the changeover to Fidelity, "that's not good enough," Edington said. A mistake should be one-in-a-million, he said.
"You tell (a computer) what to do and it does that," Edington said. "But if you have a comma rather than a period, or if you have one column not the same in each table, then the computer's going to make a mistake."
A single digit can make a big difference. Just ask Trask.
While her $2 prescription co-payment has been restored, she is struggling with Fidelity to ensure her personal data's accuracy. She has been told that her records show she was born in January 1900.
Said Trask: "I told them, 'Well, I'm really well-preserved for 105 years old.'"
You can reach Eric Mayne at (313) 222-2443 or emayne@detnews.com.
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