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Great question. For the most part, the DB plans I saw had no alternative procedure or standard. In some documents, the definition reads as follows: "Total and Permanent Disability means a physical and mental condition of a Participant resulting from bodily injury, disease, or mental disorder which renders such Participant incapable of continuing any gainful occupation and which condition constitutes total disability under the federal Social Security Act". Careful reading reveals that this definition does not explicitly require the participant to apply for (and receive) SS disability; it's possible a plan's administrative committee might interpret it that way in the examples you provide, especially leaning on the word "constitute". However, I never saw it happen.

@RatherBeGolfing Just to be clear... optional aggregation is permitted in 3 circumstances stated generally as: (i) employers using a common paymaster (not that many employers actually meet the common paymaster rules because it should only cover "concurrent" employees), (ii) an employer and one or more other employers in a 414(b), (c), (m), or (o) control group, and (iii) for successor employers in asset purchase. See § 1.414(v)-2(b)(4)(ii), (iii), (iv) Federal Register :: Catch-Up Contributions Administratively it could be an issue where several controlled group members participate in the same plan and employees work across multiple entities in the controlled group or are transferred between the entities. Without aggregation, mid-year transfers could cause the employee's catch-ups to be characterized differently, so there will need to be more communications with the employees to minimize confusion. Certainly more reasons not to do this but it depends on the employer and their structure.