Pension Benefits
To be eligible for a Disability Pension you must meet the following criteria:
Total Disability of an Early Retirement Pensioner
You may be entitled to a Disability Pension if you are receiving an Early Retirement Pension, notified the Fund Administrator that you are applying for a Social Security Disability Benefit, and you are subsequently determined to be totally disabled by the Social Security Administration.
You may receive a Disability Pension instead of an Early Retirement Pension, if the Social Security Administration determines that you are entitled to Social Security Benefits. You must inform the Fund Administrator of your intent to retire on a Disability Pension (upon determination by the Social Security Administration that such Participant is entitled to disability retirement) when applying for your Early Retirement Pension and when the Social Security Administration confirms your disability.
Loss of Disability Benefit Entitlement
If you lose your entitlement to Social Security Disability Benefits before you reach age 65, you must notify the Fund Administrator in writing within 15 days after you receive the notice from the Social Security Administration. You must also notify the Fund Administrator immediately if you recover from disability and return to work.
If you do not notify the Fund Administrator about your loss of Social Security Disability Benefits or your recovery, you will, upon subsequent retirement, not be eligible for benefits for a number of months. The number of months for you which you will not be eligible to receive a benefit is equal to the number of months that elapsed since you received notice or since you recovered.
After age 65, your Disability Pension will continue even if you lose entitlement to Social Security Disability Benefits or you recover from your disability, but only for as long as you remain retired. If you do recover, you may return to work and resume accumulating Credited Service. Your benefits will stop until you retire again in the future.
Suspension of Disability Pension Benefit
If elect to retire under the Plan, you must understand that your pension will automatically be suspended if you recover from disability or are engaged in Prohibited Employment. After such employment ceases, your pension shall be paid again starting with the first month following the cessation of Prohibited Employment.
You are eligible to receive an Early Retirement Pension if all the following conditions apply to you:
You have worked in Covered Employment at least 2,080 Hours of Work in the 24 consecutive months immediately before your Annuity Starting Date.
Rule of 70 Early Retirement Pension
You are eligible to receive a Rule of 70 Early Retirement Pension if all of the following conditions apply:
IMPORTANT: Rule of 70 Early Retirement will only apply to benefits earned before July 1, 2008.
A Pro-Rata Pension applies to people who may not be eligible for benefits under any one pension plan because they worked for different employers or the same employer where they earned benefits under two or more plans that are under the Pension Reciprocity Agreement for Operating Engineers Pension Funds (Agreement). If you worked under The Local 39 Pension Plan and other pension plans participating in this Agreement, you may be entitled to a Pro-Rata Pension.
These related plans have adopted similar provisions so that years of Credited Service earned under the Local 39 Pension Plan can be used toward eligibility for a Pro-Rata pension under those plans.
You are eligible to receive a Pro-Rata Pension when:
Transfer of Contributions (Reciprocity)
If you are an employee covered by a Cooperating Pension Plan—plans that have executed the Pension Reciprocity Agreement for Operating Engineers Pension Funds and have adopted the Cooperating Pension Plan portion of the Agreement— you may choose to have those employer contributions transferred to the Local 39 Pension Plan. In determining whether you are eligible to receive benefits under this Plan, full credit will be given for the time you worked under any Cooperating Pension Plan when the Local 39 Pension Plan receives employer contributions from the Cooperating Pension Plan on your behalf. Also, any hours worked for an employer with a Cooperating Pension Plan will be counted as if they had been worked under this Plan if all the contributions were transferred.
In determining the amount of benefits payable under this Plan, full credit will be given to employer contributions forwarded to this Plan by the Cooperating Pension Plan(s) as well as contributions received by this Plan by Contributing Employers.
You may contact the Fund Administrator to find out which pension plans have adopted the Pension Reciprocity Agreement for Operating Engineers Pension Funds and are Cooperating Pension Plan.
You are eligible to receive a Regular Pension which represents monthly payments to you on retirement for your lifetime (sometimes referred to as a "Single Life Annuity") when you reach Regular Retirement Age. A Regular Pension at Regular Retirement Age is achieved by meeting one of the following criteria:
A Participant shall nonetheless be entitled to a Regular Pension upon attainment of Normal Retirement Age.
Bonus Provisions
From time to time the Trustees have adopted one-time increased benefits based on Credited Service during a specific period. If you met the conditions defined by these periodic Bonus grants, they became a part of your accrued benefit payable when you are eligible to receive your Regular Pension. Below is a summary of the Bonus provisions granted in the past; followed by an illustration of how they affect the calculation of your Regular Pension.
Bonus provisions apply only to Regular Pension and do not increase other benefits you may become eligible for under the Plan. For more information, refer to the Pension Summary Plan Description.
Spouse’s Benefit
If you die before retiring, have reached Vested Status, and were married at least a full year before death, your Spouse will receive 50% of the pension amount you would have been entitled to if you had retired the day before you died and had chosen the 50% Joint and Survivor Pension form of payment.
If you die before reaching earliest eligible retirement age, your Spouse's Benefit will begin the first of the month following the date you would have first been eligible for an Early Retirement Pension. Your Spouse may choose to delay receiving benefits. However, benefits must start before December 1 of the calendar year when you would have turned age 70 1/2; if you are older than 70 1/2 then your benefits must start by December 1 of the year after your death.
Pre-Retirement Lump Sum Death Benefit
If you die before retiring, your designated beneficiary will receive a lump-sum payment equal to the contributions made to the Plan on your behalf, up to a maximum of, if all the following apply:
However, if your designated beneficiary on the enrollment/beneficiary form on file with the Fund Administrator is entitled to a Spouse's Benefit, he or she may choose to receive the lump-sum death benefit payment in addition to the Spouse's Benefit. The Spouse's Benefit would be actuarially reduced to reflect the amount of the lump-sum payment.
Post-Retirement Lump-Sum Death Benefit
If you die after retiring, your designated beneficiary on the enrollment/beneficiary form on file with the Fund Administrator will receive $4,500, reduced by the total amount of pension payments made to you before your death. No death benefits are payable if the Joint and Survivor Pension benefit applies.
Lack of a Designated Beneficiary
If your designated beneficiary is dead, or you have not designated a beneficiary pursuant to the Plan, your benefits (which are due and payable but not actually paid prior to your death) shall be paid to your Spouse if he or she is alive. If your Spouse is dead, or if he or she dies, such payments may be made to any other person who is related to you or to your estate, as the Board of Trustees in its sole discretion may designate.
Beneficiary Designation
Revocation of Beneficiary Designation Upon Divorce
Notwithstanding any other provision of this Article 8 to the contrary, if a Participant designates his or her Spouse as Beneficiary under the Plan, such designation shall automatically become null and void as of the date of any final divorce or similar decree or order unless either (i) the Participant re-designates such former Spouse as his or her Beneficiary after the date of the final decree or order or (ii) such former Spouse is designated as the Participant’s Beneficiary under a qualified domestic relations order.
Beneficiary Enrollment Form
When working for a Contributing Employer, you must file an enrollment / beneficiary form with the Fund’s Administrator. The form will provide basic information necessary for your pension record, and it will give the Fund Administrator the name of your beneficiary.
Your spousal beneficiary is automatically revoked upon divorce which means you need to update your beneficiary designation if you divorce.
REMEMBER: Always be sure to have an up-to-date beneficiary enrollment form on file with the Fund Administrator.
