A lawsuit filed against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany by state Attorney General Letitia James alleges the diocese did not make any contributions to the pension fund.

James said that more than 1,100 employees of the former St. Clare’s Hospital in Schenectady have lost their pensions over the past four years.

“We found decades of mismanagement and incompetence,” James said Tuesday.

The announcement of the suit was greeted with applause from retirees of the hospital.

“This is going to make such a difference,” said Mary Hartshorne, a St. Clare's pensioner.

Gina Martinellie-Painter worked at St. Clare’s for more than 25 years, and unfortunately, is unable to retire because of the alleged mishandling of the pension.

“With that letter, when we first got it, that means my husband and I were planning with false information,” Martinellie-Painter said.

It’s a similar story for Jerry Adach and his wife.

“We had a combined 59 years of service at St. Clare’s. A third of our retirement is gone," Adach said.

Top diocese officials, including former Bishop Howard Hubbard, told the U.S. Internal Revenue Service that between 1999 and 2017, $43 million of annual contributions were being made to the fund.

According to the lawsuit, that was a lie.

“They only made legally required contributions for two out of 19 years,” James said.

The St. Clare’s Corporation terminated the pension plan in 2018. A year later, the diocese moved to dissolve the corporation that had been overseen hospital operations.

That’s when James said an investigation was launched.

“We found multiple opportunities over the years for the diocese to properly fund, monitor and administer the pension," James said. "They turned their back on the pensioners each and every time.”

She hopes the lawsuit will get pensioners like Hartshorne the money they’re owed.

“Some of the stories," Hartshorne said. "There is another woman who has gone from apartment to apartment, and she only has a certain amount of money. And it’s getting harder and harder with the price of gas and groceries. So where do you go? What do you do?"