Opinion ID: 626080
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Amendment Seven, Effective December 31, 2005

Text: On December 31, 2005, Amendment Seven to the Plan became effective. The Amendment made two primary changes: (1) a freeze of benefit accruals, and (2) a modification of the Social Security offset for participants under age 52 on June 30, 2003. By virtue of Amendment Seven, the amended Introduction to the Plan provided that [e]ffective December 31, 2005, all benefits under the Plan are frozen for all Participants and there shall be no further accruals of benefits under this plan after that date. Amendment Seven also added this language to the end of the Plan's definition of Accrued Benefit: A Participant shall not accrue any additional benefits under the Plan after December 31, 2005. This meant that a participant's FAE period ended and would be calculated as of December 31, 2005, and his months of credited service ended as of December 31, 2005. Although a participant continued to work for Delta, no additional months of service or earnings would be taken into account in calculating either his retirement or termination benefit under the Plan. The amended Social Security offset formula continued to separate participants based on whether they had attained age 52 on June 30, 2003. Amendment Seven, however, did away with the distinction between participants retiring before and after June 30, 2010. For a participant age 52 or older as of June 30, 2003, the Plan left intact the no income formula and provided that the Social Security offset would be determined by assuming the Participant had no income after June 30, 2003. For a participant under age 52 as of June 30, 2003, the Plan provided that, effective December 31, 2005, the Social Security offset would depend on whether that participant later became eligible for (1) a retirement benefit under Article Five or (2) a termination benefit under Article Six. In other words, the amount of the Social Security offset hinged on whether a participant (1) continued to work at Delta, retired directly from Delta, and received a retirement benefit, or (2) terminated employment with Delta prior to retirement and received a termination benefit. As to a retirement benefit, and if a participant had reached age 52 by December 31, 2005, his Social Security offset was determined by assuming the Participant had 2003 Level Pay ... from July 1, 2003 to the date the participant attains age 52 and no pay thereafter. As to a retirement benefit, and if a participant had not attained age 52 by December 31, 2005, his Social Security offset was determined by assuming ... 2003 Level Pay from July 1, 2003 to December 31, 2005 and no pay thereafter. When Amendment Seven became effective on December 31, 2005, plaintiff Cinotto had not turned 52 and thus was not yet eligible for a retirement benefit. Under Amendment Seven, if Cinotto continued to work at Delta and later became eligible for a retirement benefit, Cinotto's Social Security offset would have been calculated using her 2003 level pay from July 1, 2003, to December 31, 2005. To calculate a termination benefit under Article Six, the Plan determined the Social Security offset by assuming the Participant had 2003 Level Pay until the Participant attained age 65.