I was employed by a top food manufactuing company from July 23,2003 to June 30,2008. The company offered a severance package to me that included severance pay, health benefits etc. I was one month shy of hitting the 5 year mark for getting vested in my pension. I was told that they could not guarantee that I would be vested since the I was a month short and they would not have an answer for me until after I left. They said that I should get it though because when there were people outsourced the year before, they all received the pension. Some were three years short of the required five years.
I spoke with the company that works with the pensions and they said that I would not be vested on July 23, 2008 but rather on July 1,2008. This means that I was not a month short of being vested in the pension program but rather 1 day! Needless to say, I left and they denied my pension. I was wondering if they were legally able to deny me my pension. If so, is it something that if I fought would be successful:confused :?

No easy yes or no on this, since you said they gave it to others that were short, I would say it is worth speaking to a legal expert in this field, I would interview several different attorneys on this.

Here is a short discussion on vesting:
Vesting - @ Free Advice (http://employment-law.freeadvice.com/pensions_benefits/533/)