Union Disability Approved

I represent an electrician whose pension claim with the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry (the “Board”) was denied because “he was not found to be disabled by the Social Security Administration.” The SSA actually ruled that the claimant was disabled from his job as an electrician, but not from sedentary work. Because the Board refused to find the claimant disabled, I filed an action in federal court.

Shortly after filing the complaint in federal court, the Board asked me to dismiss the lawsuit, and to allow it to reconsider the claim again. I agreed to the reconsideration, but only to staying the lawsuit, not dismissing it. After the Board reconsidered the same arguments that I submitted before the lawsuit, it approved the application for disability retirement.

It is unclear why the Board changed its decision to deny the claimant’s application. What is clear is that absent the lawsuit, the claimant’s application would not have been approved.