II. OTHER IMPORTANT FEATURES
AND DEFINITION OF TERMS
A. Becoming a Participant
in the Plan.
You are a Participant after:
1. Employer contributions have been made for you totaling
at least $250, provided that the contributions were made during each of
12 or more separate calendar months.
OR
2. You completed at least 1000 Hours of Service
in any 12 consecutive month period with one or more Contributing Employers.
An Hour of Service is any hour for which you were compensated by
your employer, including vacations, holidays, and sick pay.
B. Service Credit.
As a Participant, you receive one year of Service Credit for
each calendar year during which employer contributions were made on your
behalf. If you had less than 1000 Hours of Service during the calendar
year in which you first entered the Plan, you will receive Service Credit
for the nearest number of whole months for which contributions were received.
For Vesting purposes only, you will also receive
Service Credit if you leave covered employment but remain continuously
employed by the same Contributing Employer.
C. Vesting. By becoming
Vested you are assured of receiving a pension at Normal Retirement Age,
65, even if you leave covered employment. You are vested when you
have 5 years of Service Credit (10 years if no credit was earned after
1988.)
D. Break in Service (Loss of Participation).
If
you are not vested when your employment stops, a Break in Service will
occur if a contribution is not made on your behalf for 5 consecutive years.
Once you incur a Break in Service, all Service Credit is canceled and you
do not qualify for a pension benefit. If contributions equal or exceed
$250, you will be entitled to a Withdrawal Benefit or your beneficiary
will be entitled to a Death Benefit on your behalf. You cannot incur
a Break in Service after you reach age 65.
E. Re-employment
After Retirement. Once your pension begins, you may continue
working in the industry without having your benefit suspended as long as
you work no more than 10 days in a calendar month. You are not entitled
to a pension payment for a month in which you work more than 10 days, except
that after April 1 of the year following the calendar year in which you
reach age 70½, there is no restriction on your employment as a pensioner.
F. Contributions After Retirement. Contributions
credited after your pension begins will be used in recalculating your pension
amount on an annual basis, provided that new contributions total at least
$50. The increased pension amount is effective beginning with the
year after the new contributions were received. For the recalculations
from contributions credited after 2002 and later, where more than 10 days
are worked in a month, the additional pension accrued will be reduced by
the actuarial equivalent of the pension payments, but will be at least
the amount that results from a formula of 1% of contributions.
Contributions received as an early retirement incentive (buyout) will
be credited on a monthly basis as if you had continued to work, using a
pension formula of 1% (for buyouts accepted after September 1, 2003).
G. Qualified Domestic
Relations Orders (QDRO). A court order or judgment made under
state domestic relations law can provide for a division of your benefit
to your spouse, former spouse, child or other dependent, provided that
it is in a form that meets legal requirements and is acceptable to the
Plan. You should notify the Plan Office if such a division is being
considered, so that it can provide, without charge, a sample QDRO that
will be acceptable to the Plan and guidance on procedures.