The New England Regional Council of Carpenters recently received an inquiry from a Texas resident, referring to himself as ‘Medicare D Recipient,’ who had received a $100 settlement check in the mail and was inquiring about its legitimacy.

He wrote “I have bought prescription drugs in the past as an individual citizen retiree…I don’t know anything about your union. They claim [this check] is my share of a class action suit…we are afraid it is some kind of scam or identity theft and are afraid to cash the check. Can you shed any light on this?”

The settlement check was in fact legit. It was the result of the class action lawsuit brought by the New England Carpenters Health Benefits Fund and an AFSCME health fund in New York against First DataBank, Inc. and McKesson Corporation that alleged that those two companies artificially inflated the “Average Wholesale Prices” of drugs that were used by millions of consumers, especially Medicare recipients (read more on NERCC Blog).

Alex Sugerman-Brozan of Krakow & Souris, LLC, responded to the inquiry as the law firm representing NERCC, not the attorneys who brought the case against McKesson.

In his letter to Medicare D Recipient, Sugerman-Brozan wrote that settlement in the class action lawsuit against McKesson was recently approved, which allowed checks to be sent to those entitled to reimbursement.

He went on to explain that often individuals who are entitled to receive money from such lawsuits often miss out due to paperwork, for a variety of reasons: it is not filled out properly, lost, forgotten, or not received at all. In the McKesson case, however, the Court was able to use information from Medicare to identify consumers who had paid for a portion of their medications, so that checks could be issued to those consumers without the consumers have to fill out any forms or paperwork. This resulted in many tens of thousands more consumers getting checks than would have otherwise occurred.

Sugerman-Brozan explained that Medicare D Recipient had received the check it because the settlement administrator determined that he was among the consumers in the class, and the check was issued most likely based on information from Medicare.

Medicare D Recipient responded enthusiastically to this explanation and wrote, “THANK YOU VERRRRRRRRY MUCH. This addresses all my Q. Take the rest of the day off.”

To learn more about the case and the settlement, visit McKessonAWPSettlement.com.

The Carpenter Vision Center is owned and operated by the New England Carpenters Health Benefits Fund. It offers complete eye examinations and the largest selection of frames available under the Plan. The Vision Center is located at the Carpenters Center, 750 Dorchester Ave, Boston, MA and offers afternoon, evening and Saturday appointments.

Carpenters Union members, spouses, and children are eligible for routine eye exam and glasses (2 pairs of single vision-distance and near – or 1 pair of bifocals) once every two years. The facility offers over 200 Covered Frames for men, women, and children and over 80 Collectors Frames for men and women available for a $50.00 co-pay. A large selection of Safety Frames is also available.



While the facility is utilized mostly by members, spouses, and children of the Carpenters Union who have benefits through the New England Carpenters Benefits Funds, the facility is also a Davis Vision Provider. Any outside individual who has Davis Vision as their Vision Benefit is allowed to receive an eye exam and glasses through the Vision Center. The cost is billed through their Vision Insurance.

The Vision Center has three exam rooms and four doctors. There are two Optometrists who perform routine eye exams, one Ophthalmologist who comes in once a month to see patients with medical issues and one Contact Lens Doctor who is available on Wednesdays only.



The Vision Center is conveniently located off of Route 93 (get directions here) at the Carpenters Center, 750 Dorchester Ave. There is plenty of parking available; the facility is an 8-minute walk from the Andrews Square station.

Hours of Operation:
Monday 8:30am - 4:30pm (to book appointments only)
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 12:00pm - 8:00pm
Friday 8:30am - 3:00pm
Saturday 8:00am - 4:00pm

Call 617-782-0100 to make an appointment.

The Board of Trustees for the New England Carpenters Benefit Funds has made a significant change in the Guaranteed Annuity Fund rules relating to withdrawals. The change, which goes into effect August 1, 2010 was sent to members in a mailing and reads as follows:

“If no Employer Contributions are received on your behalf for twelve (12) consecutive calendar months, you are eligible to apply for withdrawal of 50% of your account balance up to a maximum of $50,000; whichever is less.

Due to the difficult economic times in the past few years, the Board felt that this change would benefit the members who are facing financial hardship.

You must understand that if you do apply for withdrawal, the amount you receive will be subject to the mandatory 20% Federal Tax and 5.3% Massachusetts State Tax. You may also be subject to a 10% Federal penalty if you are under age 55.

For withdrawal forms, please contact the Fund Office at 1-800-344-1515.”

Michel Pare, former President of Ben & Sons Drywall Contractors in Connecticut has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison, along with two years of supervised release in connection with a pension fraud investigation. Once a major nonunion player in the drywall industry, over the course of two years the company failed to transfer more than $175,000 it withheld from workers to a pension plan. He has been ordered to pay restitution in that amount to impacted workers. Pare was sentenced to jail time for admitting to making false statements when he signed annual reports for benefit funds that he knew were false.

At one time or another, every NERCC staff member was chasing Ben & Sons or talking to carpenters working for the company, uncovering misdeeds. Congratulations to them for finally seeing justice served. The Hartford Courant covered the story.

The first floor of the building will hold shop and training space for the Boston Carpenters Joint Apprenticeship and Training Fund. The building already has high ceilings, which makes it a good fit for the use. The JATC will also use space in the second floor for administrative offices and classrooms.The training center will be joined on the second floor by the Carpenters Vision Center, an office offering services of First Trade Union Bank and a representative of the Massachusetts Carpenters Combined Benefits Fund who will serve as a “help desk” for members.The third floor of the building will include the New England Regional Council of Carpenters, the New England Carpenters Labor Management Program, organizing offices and some local union offices.