Letters

Dear fellow retirees,

As I and others have worked on this effort to get Embarq to restore our benefits, I have become acutely aware that many of our fellow retirees, particularly those who retired many years ago, and were not in high salaried jobs, are receiving a pitance of a retirement. I am not aware that any have ever received a cost of living increase, and are not likely to get one with the present management of the Corporation.

When I received the SAR(Embarq Retirement Pension Plan) in the mail today and reviewed it, I am boiling again.

I don't know if I made a mistake or not but I sent the following letter to Randall T. Parker, Plan Administrator,

I don't think there is any legal way to require them to do something. But Let'em know we ain't happy.

I copy you for your information. I don't know if I will get a response.

----- Forwarded Message ----
To: randall.t.parker@embarqmail.com
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 11:01:08 PM
Subject: Pension Plan Questions

Mr. Parker,

I am a Sprint/Embarq retiree who retired in 1999. I was employed at the Apopka General Office in Florida at time of retirement. I just received the annual SAR for the year ending Dec 31, 2006.

I have some questions>

a) To your knowledge, has any retiree(other than officers with special packages), ever received a cost of living increase in their pensions? If not why? I am familiar with some retirees who retired 15 or 20 so years ago and are still receiving the same pension with no increase. That pension is now worth less than 50% of what it was when they retired.

b) I see from the report that Embarq contributed $75,000,000 to the fund. It is or has been my understanding that the company(formerly Sprint) hasn't had to contribute to the fund for many years. The interest income is greater than the pay out. Am I right or wrong on this?

c) Is there an audit report available, preferably one outside the company? I see from the report that an accountant's report is available, however, I am more interested in whether or not there has been an independent audit. If so. could I have a copy? I don't want to pay a big price for it. The costs stated in the report, for a copy of the complete plan is $169.50 which is too high and I think may be to discourage the average retiree from requesting it. I can make copies on my home copier for about $.03 per copy, why does Embarq have to charge $.50?

d) Who administers the plan? Is it a independent corporation or is it a division of Embarq? The Administration fees of 12 million, 76 thousand, 78 dollars seems like a lot of dough, over a million a month for someone to manage the assets. What are we getting for that amount of money?

The report indicates that the pension fund had Three Billion, Three Hundred Nineteen Million, Two Hundred Twenty Thousand, Five hundred Seventy Six dollars in it at the end of 2006. THREE BILLION DOLLARS +. Invested at a 5% rate would provide $165,961,029 anually. The plan only paid out $105,163,412 in benefits during the year. A 5% cost of living increase would result in a $110,421,583.

I would appreciate a response to these questions and comments.

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