Health
& We
lfare
and Pension Funds
of Philadelphia and Vicinity
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Benefit Payment Options; Spouse's Benefits A. Benefit Payment Options
The benefit amounts described in Section VI yield a monthly amount payable, beginning on or after your Normal Retirement Age, in what is called the Plan's "normal form" - a monthly benefit payable for your lifetime, with a guarantee of 60 monthly payments. The Plan's other benefit payment options are valued so as to yield monthly amounts that are, on an actuarial basis, identical to your benefit payable in the normal form. However, if you are married at the time when your retirement benefit begins to be paid (your "benefit commencement date") your benefit will automatically be paid in the form of a qualified joint and surviving spouse's annuity. This benefit, as more fully described below, pays a reduced benefit to you during your lifetime (as compared to the Plan's normal benefit form) in order to provide your spouse (if he or she survives you) with a monthly pension for his or her lifetime. If you want another form of payment, your spouse must agree to your choice. Your spouse's agreement must be in writing and witnessed either by a Plan representative or a notary public. Here are the available payment options: 1. Lifetime (Single Life) Pension with 60-Month Guarantee This is the Plan's normal payment form. You receive monthly payments for your lifetime, with a guarantee of 60 monthly payments (except for Bases A, B or C on Table 1A above). This means that if you were to die before 60 monthly payments are made, payments will continue (until the end of the 60-month period) to the beneficiary specified under the Plan. Your "beneficiary" under the Plan is your:
"Sibling," for this purpose, means a person related to you by blood through at least one parent or by adoption. Notwithstanding the above, if you are unmarried and retire on or after May 1, 2004, you may designate anyone as your beneficiary. If, however, the person so designated does not survive you by thirty (30) days, the person to whom any survivor benefits will be paid will be in the order listed above. The last monthly payment will be made for the calendar month in which you die, or for the 60th month following your benefit commencement date, if later. 2. Lifetime (Single Life) Pension with No Guarantee Under this option, you receive monthly payments for your lifetime, with no survivor benefit. The monthly payment under this option is higher than under the Lifetime Pension with 60-Month Guarantee. The last payment will be made for the calendar month in which your death occurs. 3. Qualified Joint and Surviving Spouse's Pension As noted above, your benefit will automatically be paid in this form if you are married on your benefit commencement date, unless your spouse agrees to another form of payment. You receive a monthly benefit that is less than payable under the Plan's normal form. Following your death, if your spouse survives you, your spouse will receive a monthly benefit equal to either 50 percent or 100 percent (as you elect) of the monthly benefit you had been receiving during your lifetime. The reduction in your lifetime monthly benefit is greater if you elect the 100 percent survivor pension, because the value of the monthly pension to your spouse is greater. If your spouse dies before you, the reduced benefit you are then receiving will continue without change during your lifetime. (If this is of concern to you, consider the joint and surviving spouse's pension with restoration feature described in item 4 below.) The last payment of the qualified joint and surviving spouse's annuity is made for the calendar month in which the last of you and your spouse dies. 4. Qualified Joint and Surviving Spouse's Pension With Restoration Feature This benefit may be appealing to you if you are concerned that your spouse may predecease you. During the time that both you and your spouse are alive, you will receive a reduced monthly benefit (as compared with the Plan's normal payment form) based on the value of a joint and surviving spouse's pension. If you die before your spouse, and have been married to him or her for at least one year prior to your death, your spouse will receive monthly payments equal to 50% or 100% of your monthly benefit (as you elect) for the remainder of his or her lifetime. However, if your spouse predeceases you, your monthly benefit will be increased ("restored") to the monthly benefit you would receive under the Single Life Pension in item 2 above. The amount of the monthly payments under the joint and surviving spouse's pension for this option are somewhat less than item 3 above, because of the cost of the restoration feature. Here's an example of the various benefit options available to you (and to your spouse, if you are married): A member retires after
earning a normal form of benefit (single life with a 60 month guarantee)
equal to $2,520.00 per month. He is married; his age is 57 and 11 months at
his retirement age; and his wife is 55 and 3 months of age. Taking into
account this benefit amount and these ages, his benefit options are as
follows: You should contact the Plan Administrator when you are ready to retire and he will provide you with a benefit application form. After the form has been processed and approved, the Plan Administrator will send you an explanation of the qualified joint and surviving spouse's pension and other available benefit options and their relative values. You have a right, at least 90 days from the date you receive this explanation, to consider whether to waive the qualified joint and surviving spouse's pension. You should file the completed option election form, indicating your benefit commencement date and the form of benefit payment, with the Plan Administrator. If you decide to waive the qualified joint and surviving spouse's pension, such election, and your spouse's consent, must be made at any time within the 90-day period ending on your benefit commencement date. You can revoke your election and make a new one (with your spouse's consent) at any time prior to the benefit commencement date (or, if later, within seven days after you receive the explanation of the qualified joint and surviving spouse's pension). If your benefit is to be paid in the form of a qualified joint and surviving spouse's pension, benefit payments will not begin until 90 days after you have made your selection but benefits will be made retroactive to the benefit commencement date you have selected. (Your benefit commencement date cannot, however, be earlier than the first day of the month following the date your benefit application has been received by the Administrator and approved for payment.) As noted above, if you are married on your benefit commencement date, your spouse must consent to your waiver of the qualified joint and surviving spouse's pension. Such consent, to be effective,
Once benefit payments commence, your benefit election is irrevocable and cannot be changed, even if your circumstances change, such as, death of spouse, divorce and/or remarriage. C. If You Die Before Retiring -- Pre-Retirement Surviving Spouse's Benefit If you die after you become vested in your Plan benefit, but before your pension benefit begins, your surviving spouse can receive a monthly benefit from the Plan equal to 50 percent [100 percent if you have (i) at least 30 years of Vesting Service and worked in Covered Employment on or after January 1, 1988, (ii) at least 25 years of Vesting Service and worked in Covered Employment on and after January 1, 1998, or (iii) at least 23 years of Vesting Service and worked in Covered Employment on and after January 1, 1999] of the monthly qualified joint and surviving spouse's benefit you would have been entitled to receive at your earliest retirement age. Your spouse's benefit will be based on the Benefit Service you had earned as of your date of death. Payment of a surviving spouse's benefit will begin as of the first day of the month following the date you would have first become eligible for an Early or Normal Retirement Benefit or, if later, the date of your death. (However, your surviving spouse has the option to defer payment of his or her monthly benefit, but not later than the date that would have been your Normal Retirement Age.) If you are unmarried and you die before your pension benefit begins, benefits are payable under this Plan to: surviving spouse, if none, then v surviving minor children, if none, then v surviving adult children, if none, then v surviving parents, if none, then v surviving sibling(s) "Sibling," for this purpose, means a person related to you by blood through at least one parent or by adoption. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section VII, if the actuarially-determined present value of your pension benefit, or the pre-retirement surviving spouse's benefit, is $5,000 or less, the Trustees will pay such present value to you or your surviving spouse in a single lump sum. You (or your surviving spouse, as applicable) may choose to have all or a portion of your lump sum payment transferred directly to an Individual Retirement Account or Annuity (an "IRA"), or to another eligible retirement plan that will accept the transfer. This option is called a "direct rollover" and will preserve the tax-sheltered status of the amount transferred until it is later distributed to you. Any part of your lump sum payment that you elect to have paid to you instead of being directly rolled over, will have 20 percent federal income tax withheld from it. You will receive more detailed information about the rollover and taxation of your lump sum payment within a reasonable amount of time before it becomes payable to you.
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