The government has a statue of limitations on many things but apparently corporations can screw you even if THEY made the mistake going back decades, I guess in the end it's always the little guy getting screwed
"Montague acknowledges she made a mistake, but didn't think she needed to confirm that her benefits matched the amount in the letter she had signed..." Right...so she knew she was stealing from other pensioners. I made a substantial wire transfer from a bank account to a brokerage firm nearly 20 years ago. My next monthly paper statement did not record the transaction nor did the next statement. I called the bank manager explaining the situation. They had to research where they made a mistake and then debited my account. I got that $20 wire transfer for free as a reward for being honest.
One hand of the pension administrator knows what she was supposed to get. Another hand was sending the check. Couldn't the administrator audit accounts to be sure the two matched?
When I worked in Russia, I was an expat and had my local taxes in Russia paid by the company. The european entity paid my taxes directly to Russia, but the US entity put the $30,000 in my bank account and told me to go pay it. Neither the Euro or US counterparts ever spoke to one another and had no idea they both paid. Of course, I informed them of the error and got a gift certificate to TGI Fridays for my trouble