Pension to pay widower in same-sex marriage case, lawyer says

Robert Pritchard had sued the pension plan of Stationary Engineers Local 39 of the International Union of Operating Engineers in January for refusing to recognize his marriage to Thomas Conwell or pay him benefits after Conwell died of a brain disease in February 2012.

Pritchard’s lawsuit noted that the pension plan had defined a spouse as “a person to whom a participant is legally married,” without reference to gender.

Amy Whelan of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of his lawyers, said the pension plan has already started paying his widower’s benefits and will pick up his attorney’s fees and costs.

Lawyers said Pritchard accompanied him when he applied in person for a disability pension that month and made their marital status clear on the application form.

In initially denying benefits to Pritchard, pension plan officials cited the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman and denied federal benefits to same-sex spouses.