Opinion ID: 2787077
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The External Textual Argument

Text: The extrinsic documents on which United relies further undermine its position. It posits that § 5.04(c) of the 1995 and 2002 Plans made explicit what had been true all along: TVPs who took their pensions before turning 65 would be entitled only to actuarially adjusted pensions. But even if it were permissible to look to the 1995 and 2002 Plans for guidance in interpreting the 1980 and 1987 Plans, the addition of § 5.04(c) more strongly supports the Employees’ position that, without the new language explicitly imposing an actuarial adjustment, there was no such adjustment before. United also points to certain summary plan descriptions (“SPDs”) to argue they clarify that actuarial 22 adjustments are required under the Plans. The 1987 and 1995 SPDs (which describe the 1980 and 1987 Plans, respectively) state that employees who took vested retirement benefits earlier than their normal retirement date would only be entitled to actuarially reduced benefits. United’s reliance on the SPDs poses two principal problems. First, the SPDs state that “[i]f the terms of the Plan document and the Trust agreement and of this summary are inconsistent, the terms of the Plan document and the Trust agreement will control.” United Refining Company, Pension Plan for Salaried Employees, Summary Plan Description 20 (Jan. 1 1987); United Refining Company, Pension Plan for Salaried Employees, Summary Plan Description 20 (Jan. 1 1995). When the SPD contains this sort of a disclaimer and the Plan is more favorable to beneficiaries than the SPD, the Plan controls. Sturges v. Hy-Vee Employee Ben. Plan & Trust, 991 F.2d 479, 480–81 (8th Cir. 1993) (per curiam); Glocker v. W.R. Grace & Co., 974 F.2d 540, 542–43 (4th Cir. 1992); McGee v. Equicor-Equitable HCA Corp., 953 F.2d 1192, 1201 (10th Cir. 1992). As discussed, the SPDs conflict with the Plans, as the Plans clearly do not contemplate actuarial adjustment. Second, United published employee handbooks in 1985, 1991, 1994, and 1998 that are wildly inconsistent on whether benefits are calculated with actuarial adjustment, and the Employees not implausibly characterize the handbooks as, by their own terms, SPDs. See, e.g., United Refining Company, Salaried Employee Handbook 110 (Apr. 1, 1994) (“The handbook contains Summary Plan Descriptions of the plans . . . .”). The 1985 handbook (published before Amendment 5 to the 1980 Plan removed its actuarial adjustment table) stated that pension benefits both for Early Retirees (people who retired directly from United after age 59½ or 60 and before age 65) and TVPs who took benefits 23 before their Normal Retirement Date would be actuarially reduced. The 1991 handbook contained no mention of actuarial adjustments for early receipt of benefits. The 1994 handbook stated of TVPs, “You can begin receiving benefits as early as age 60 with no reduction.” Id. at 84. The 1998 handbook is less quotable, but it includes a sample calculation for a person who retires (not necessarily a TVP) at age 59½ and does not include an actuarial adjustment for the participant’s age. Indeed, nowhere in the 1998 handbook is there any indication that anyone’s benefits might be actuarially reduced. These handbooks’ differences with each other and with the SPDs strengthen our conviction that the plain meaning of the Plans should control.