For every hour you work in covered employment, your employer contributes a negotiated amount (called a contribution) to the pension plan on your behalf. That money is placed in the plan’s trust account.  Thereafter, the plan assets are used for benefits, administration of the Fund and transferred to Investment Advisors for investing.  When you retire, you may be eligible to receive a monthly pension from the plan. (The plan also pays survivor benefits.)  The amount you receive is based on the number of years you have worked while covered by the plan and the contribution rate.

When a union and a number of employers negotiate a pension plan, the employers agree to contribute to the pension plan trust fund on behalf of the employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement.  The collective bargaining agreement specifies the conditions by which the contributions are made.

Since you are in a negotiated multi-employer defined benefit pension plan, you should realize the money contributed by your employer does not belong to you, and it will not be available to you if you leave the plan before becoming eligible for benefits.  Employer contributions remain in the trust fund until paid out as pension benefits when employees or spouses become eligible for benefits.

To participate in this plan your employer must be required to make contribution payments on your behalf through a collective bargaining agreement or a participation agreement.  You become a participant in the pension plan after you have completed 750 hours of service within a Plan Year. 

To participate in this plan your employer must be required to make contribution payments on your behalf through a collective bargaining agreement or a participation agreement.  You become a participant in the pension plan after you have completed 750 hours of service within a Plan Year. 

This plan provides two types of retirement pensions: normal retirement (age 65 or with 30 or more years of vesting and credited service) and early retirement (between ages 55 and 65).   Additionally, the plan provides survivor benefits.  

Please note that your participation in this plan does not make you automatically eligible for these benefits. To be eligible for these benefits you must earn a certain number of years of Vesting Service (generally five and ten years) and become “vested.”

Being vested means you have the right to receive a pension benefit from the plan (in the future) even if you stop working in covered employment.   In other words, you have a non-forfeitable right to a pension. It takes five years of uninterrupted employment to become vested. 

This plan pays monthly pension benefits when you retire from covered employment and apply for your pension.  When you reach age 65 you can begin receiving your normal retirement pension following the date you retire. In addition, the Plan provides an unreduced retirement pension if you have 30 years of Vesting and Credited Service (no age requirement). The plan also has an early retirement provision, where, if you meet the eligibility requirements, you can retire between the ages 55 and 65, with a smaller monthly pension.  

You will not receive payment of your monthly pension until you file a completed application!

Generally, to be eligible for a normal retirement pension, you must be at least age 65 and have participated in the plan for five years or if you have accumulated thirty (30) years of vesting and credited service you may retire at any age without a reduction for early retirement.

The plan has two different ways to count your years of service to determine if you are eligible for a pension from the plan and to calculate how much your monthly pension will be.  They are Vesting Service and Future Service.

Future Service Credit is used to compute your monthly pension.  Generally, you earn one Future Service Credit for each year of full-time covered employment; the more service credits you earn, the larger your monthly benefit will be.  You receive 1.0 year of Future Service Credit for any Plan Year that you report at least 1,950 hours.  You will receive a partial year of Future Service Credit for any Plan Year that you report at least 750 hours.

Vesting Service Credit is used to determine if you are eligible for a benefit.  Generally you earn one Vesting Service Credit for each year of employment, and you must have five years of Vesting Service Credit to be eligible to receive a pension when you retire.  Vesting Service Credit is also used to determine if you are eligible for early retirement or death benefits.  You receive 1.0 year of Vesting Service Credit for any Plan Year that you report at least 750 hours.  

When you leave covered employment before retirement, whether or not you are eligible for a benefit at retirement depends on if you are “vested.” 

If you are not vested when you leave covered employment, you may lose credits (called Service Credits) you earned toward benefits while you were a plan participant. 

If you are vested, when you go from being actively employed in covered employment to not being employed in covered employment, generally your plan status changes from “active” to “inactive.” At that time your vested pension benefit is “frozen” at the amount you accumulated as of the last day of the Plan Year in which you earned Service Credit from reported covered employment.

The plan has three payment methods:  A single life benefit if you are single when you retire, 50% joint & survivor or 75% joint & survivor benefit if you are married when you retire.

To receive a pension or other benefits from the plan, you must complete the plan’s written application and return it to the Fund Office together with other required documents.

Be sure to file an application for benefits as soon as you know you are going to retire.  As a general rule, pension benefits are not paid until you apply, so if you file late, you could lose months of benefits you would have received had you applied.  Generally, benefit payments are not made retroactively.  

No.  Your monthly pension payment will be based on the benefit form you choose on the pension application form.  You can change the payment method anytime before you start to receive benefits, but once payments start, your benefit form cannot be changed.

The Plan may have to suspend your pension benefit while employed.  Please contact the Fund Office immediately if you are receiving a benefit and plan to return to work.

If you are married and die before you retire, a monthly pension will be paid to your surviving spouse for his or her lifetime at your earliest eligible retirement date.  The amount your spouse receives is calculated as though you had retired on the day before your death and chose to have a retirement pension paid as a 50% joint & survivor benefit.

If your monthly pension is being paid in the 50% or 75% Joint & Survivor benefit form, your spouse will receive either 50% or 75% of the monthly pension you had been receiving for the rest of his or her life.

The Board of Trustees decides the rules as to who is eligible. The Board of Trustees is responsible for interpreting the plan and for making determinations under the plan.  To carry out their responsibilities, the Trustees have exclusive authority and full discretion.