Dozens of retired Colorado firefighters are suing their former department, claiming around $1.8 million in a retiree health account was not properly distributed.
Nearly 75 former members of the West Metro Fire District are part of the class action lawsuit filed in Jefferson County, KCNC-TV reports. According to the legal action, the retirees began contributing to a department fund in 1996 that they thought would go toward offsetting healthcare costs once they retired. West Metro fire officials, however, began phasing out the fund in 2015, saying the department could no longer handle the expense.
By 2017, the department shut down the account, which still had around $1.8 million in it. But the lawsuit claims that the remaining money was distributed to current West Metro firefighters to cover health costs upon retirement, and firefighters who had already retired were left out, according to KCNC.
