Sears Update: Retailer Looks To Settle Life Insurance Payout With Retirees For Only $135

Following Sears Holdings Corp.'s (SHLDQ) Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, the company’s retirees are finding their life insurance plan cut short. The retired Sears workers saw their life insurance plan terminated earlier this year, which Sears is now reportedly is looking to settle with a $135 payment each.

The offer from Sears comes after it sold its stores and most of its assets to Eddie Lambert’s hedge fund, ELS Investments in January. The Sear’s estate is now responsible for paying the company’s old debt, which also includes the life insurance plan for about 29,000 former employees, Bloomberg reported.

The life insurance plan has a value of $5,000 to $14,500 in death benefits for the former Sears workers, according to a court filing, with about a dozen retirees holding from $356,000 to $2.7 million in death benefits. With Sears’ proposed plan, the employees may only see 2.3 to 2.7 percent of their death benefits, which could amount to $115 to $135, the court filing said.

“The new plan is totally unacceptable to the retirees,” Ronald Olbrysh, chairman of the National Association of Retired Sears Employees told the news outlet. “It’s totally unfair, what Sears is attempting to do.”

Sears’ estate terminated the retiree plan back in March, giving employees the option to move to an individual life insurance policy at their own cost. The retirees were granted a committee to advocate for their interests by a federal judge in June. A hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Aug. 12.

Shares of Sears stock were down 2.93 percent as of 10:25 a.m. ET on Wednesday.