BOSTON (AP) - Secretary of State William Galvin says he’s ordering MetLife to pay $1 million and make payments to retirees after an investigation found that the company failed to make pension payments.

Galvin said Wednesday his office entered into a consent order, requiring the fine and payments, with interest, to hundreds of Massachusetts retirees and beneficiaries who the life insurance company had wrongly designated as “presumed dead.”

MetLife says they self-identified and reported this issue and they’re focused on enhancing their processes.

The recipients of the payments include retirees who worked for grocery stores, hospitals and manufacturers that closed. Galvin says the former employers sold their pension obligations to MetLife.

Galvin says he opened an investigation a year ago after MetLife said it hadn’t made payments to thousands of people because it couldn’t locate them.

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