Frequently Asked Questions

Under certain circumstances, your benefit might not start at the date indicated in the Plan. For example, if you have a vested deferred benefit but fail to apply for benefits at your Normal Retirement Date (and Retirement Services cannot locate you), your benefit will not start until you apply sometime after your Normal Retirement Date. Another example might be a Disability Benefit where your Disability beginning date is determined after the fact based on a ruling by the Social Security Administration regarding eligibility for federal benefits. In such cases, you will choose between an increased benefit payable prospectively only or a retroactive benefit starting at the date originally called for in the Plan.

In order to choose a “retroactive annuity starting date,” you must elect this starting date and, if applicable, your spouse must consent to this election. (If your spouse does not consent, you cannot receive your benefit on a retroactive annuity starting date.) If you make this election, you will receive back payments with interest based on the payment option you elect. On the other hand, if your benefit is paid prospectively only, your monthly benefit amount will be actuarially increased so that the payments you are expected to receive have the same value as the benefit that would have started at your retroactive annuity starting date. [Section VI(G)(1)(k) & (l)]

The Retirement Equity Act of 1984 allows a Participant's Pension to be viewed as marital property. Under this federal law, an Alternate Payee (former spouse) can be awarded a stated portion of the Participant's Pension by a court order that meets the requirements of a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO).

If you are divorced and your Pension is determined to be marital property, a QDRO can be issued by the court. Written QDRO procedures and sample QDROs are available from Retirement Services (at no charge); sample QDROs also are available online at laborfunds.org. Click on Forms. Contact Retirement Services for more information. [Section XII(B)]

You can lose your Retirement Benefits in the following ways:

• If you quit working before you become vested in any benefit under the Plan (before five years of Credited Service or Vesting Service), you can lose all benefits under the Plan. [Section II(I)]

• If you quit working before you become vested in any benefit under the Plan and you later again become a participant in the Plan, the credit for prior employment may be lost. [Section II(I)]

• If the Plan should ever be terminated or partially terminated, the participants affected by such termination will be entitled to their Retirement Benefits earned to date to the extent there are sufficient funds in the Plan's Trust Fund. In the case of a participant who has a vested right to benefits, if the Trust Fund is not sufficient to cover benefits at Plan termination, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) may provide the participant with benefits. [Section XI(B)]

• If you return to Covered Employment after you receive a single-sum distribution of your Retirement Benefit, your prior credit will not count toward your new Retirement Benefit unless you are peremitted to, and do, repay the original distribution (with interest). [Section XII(C)]

• Federal law places certain limits on the amount of benefits payable from a qualified pension plan. Benefits earned under the benefit accrual formula for this Plan are highly unlikely to be constrained by these limits [Section XIII]