Baker v. Sheet Metal Workers Local Union No. 9 Pension Trust Fund

KELLY, Judge.

Defendant, Sheet Metal Workers Local Union No. 9 Pension Trust Fund, appeals a district court judgment finding its trustees’ denial of full pension benefits to plaintiff, Joseph Baker, contrary to the terms of the pension plan and, therefore, arbitrary and capricious. The central issue is whether the trustees acted arbitrarily and capriciously in applying the “break-in-service” rule contained in the original pension plan where the revised plan, in operation at the time of Baker’s retirement, would not have operated to cut off the previously earned credits. On appeal, the trustees…