• SPD Table of Contents
  1. Introduction
  2. Funding Improvement Plan
  3. Pension Plan Highlights
  4. Beginning Work
  5. Leaving Work
  6. Getting Married or Divorced
  7. Preparing for Retirement
  8. Receiving a Pension
  9. Choosing a Payment Option
  10. Returning to Work
  11. In the Event of Death
  12. Administrative Information
  13. Definitions
  14. Table 1: Early Retirement Pension Reduction Factors for Benefits Accrued on or Before May 31, 2018
  15. Table 1A: Early Retirement Pension Reduction Factors for Benefits Accrued on or After June 1, 2018
  16. Table 2: Deferred Pension Early Retirement Reduction Factors
  17. Table 3: Actuarial Equivalent Reduction Factors for Pension Before Suspension of Benefits

Returning to Work

Before Your Pension Payments Begin

How your pension benefit is affected when you leave Covered Employment and subsequently return to Covered Employment depends on whether or not you were vested when you left Covered Employment and how long you were not working in Covered Employment. If you were not vested before a break in service, refer to Leaving Work on page 8, which explains the break in service rules.

If you were vested, left Covered Employment, and subsequently returned, your pension amount for each period of benefit service before or after a break year may be calculated differently, based on the Plan provisions at the end of each period.

After Your Pension Payments Begin

You must be Retired to receive monthly pension payments. To be considered Retired, you cannot be employed or self-employed in disqualifying employment, which differs before and after age 60. Your benefits will be suspended for any month in which you work in disqualifying employment. Disqualifying employment means:

• Before age 60, disqualifying employment is any amount of work in classifications of employment covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreements. If you do not notify the Fund Office or misrepresent information about your disqualifying employment, your monthly benefit will be suspended for an additional six months.

• After age 60, disqualifying employment is work of 40 hours or more per month in classifications of work covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreements. Paid non-work time is counted toward the 40 hours, which includes vacation, holiday, illness, or other incapacity, layoff, jury duty, or other leave of absence.

As of the April 1 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which you reach age 70½, no employment will be considered disqualifying employment.

If you are receiving a Disability Pension, you are not entitled to your pension if you engage in any employment covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreements. You are required to report all earnings to the Trustees within 15 days after the month in which you had any earnings. If you do not to report your earnings, your Disability Pension will be suspended for an additional 12 months.

If you have worked in disqualifying employment in any month and you do not provide timely notice about your employment as described in this section, it will be assumed that you worked at least 40 hours per month until you provide notice that you are no longer working in disqualifying employment. If you are working for a contractor at a building or construction site, it will be assumed that you are working at the site as long as the contractor is actively engaged at the site.

If your benefits are suspended, you will be notified via personal delivery or mail during the first calendar month in which your benefits are suspended. The notice will include the Plan’s notification requirements, suspension review, and offset procedures.

Notification

If you take a job that is or may be disqualifying, you must notify the Fund Office, in writing, within 21 days after you start work. You may be required to give up your pension benefits for the months during which you are employed.

Before you begin any work, you may request a determination from the Board of Trustees as to whether or not the type of work is considered disqualifying employment. You have the right to appeal a benefit suspension under the Plan’s appeal process, as described on page 14. You will be notified once every 12 months of the notification requirements for disqualifying employment.

Resuming Benefit Payments

If your benefits have been suspended, you must notify the Trustees that your disqualifying employment has ended. The notice to the Fund Office to reinstate your pension must include your name, Social Security number, and the date on which you stopped working in disqualifying employment. Your payments will begin no later than the third month after the last calendar month that your benefits were suspended.

If you work in disqualifying employment and continue receiving pension payments, you are obligated to repay the pension amounts received during the months you worked in disqualifying employment.

Over payments will be deducted from future payments in one of two options:

• If you return to Retirement before age 60, the Trustees will withhold 100% of your monthly benefit payment, until the amount of the overpayment is recovered or, if earlier until you reach age 60. After age 60, a 25% monthly deduction will apply. After age 60, your monthly pension may be reduced up to 25%, except for the first payment made after your payments begin after the suspension. If you die before the entire amount owed is recovered, benefits payable to your beneficiary or surviving spouse will be reduced by 25% until the overpayment is repaid; or

• The actuarial equivalent value of the over payments will be subtracted from all future pension payments after payments begin after the suspension.

Re-Calculation of Pension Benefits

If your benefits are suspended because of disqualifying employment, your pension benefits will be recalculated based on your age when your pension begins again and any additional Pension Credit you earned. The new benefit amount will be calculated as of the end of the calendar year in which you begin receiving your pension again.

If you Retired before reaching Normal Retirement Age (except if you qualify for a Disability Pension) and return to work in disqualifying employment, your pension will be recalculated and reduced by the actuarial equivalent of any pension payments you previously received, as shown in Table 3 (page 58). If the monthly benefit resulting from the deduction is less than the previous pension amount payable before Normal Retirement Age, then your pension after benefits begin again will be equal to the previous pension amount payable before Normal Retirement Age. Your pension may also be adjusted for any optional form of payment you elect.

If you were receiving your pension as a 50% or 75% Participant and Spouse Pension before your benefits were suspended, your death benefits will remain in effect if you die while your benefits were suspended.

If you return to Covered Employment before Normal Retirement Age, any additional Pension Credits earned after you return to work may be paid in a new form of payment. If you return to Covered Employment after you reach Normal Retirement Age, any additional benefits you earn will be payable in the initial form of payment you elected.

• arrow_circle_left Previous Page Choosing a Payment Option
• Next Page arrow_circle_right In the Event of Death