Lost letter could cost Illinois man nearly $1 million in retirement

COOK COUNTY, Ill. (WGN) — The holiday rush may be over, but reports about the postal service’s troubles continue.

A former Cook County sheriff’s officer said a postal delay hit him hard. Dan Moreci spent 30 years with the sheriff’s office before retiring last April.

At the time, the county’s pension fund told him he was eligible to receive a monthly annuity of $7,576, a figure that included additional sick time that Moreci could purchase with money he had saved in a deferred compensation plan.

Amid the pandemic, the office that processes the deferred compensation paperwork was closed, so Moreci sent his documents through the mail.

But because of postal delays, it was not processed within 30 days, as was required.