Plan Information - Working After Retirement

Retirement and Suspension

Once you retire and begin receiving pension benefits, the type of work you can do without having your pension benefits suspended will be subject to the following rules.

Before Age 65:

1. You can work as many hours as you want without having your pension benefits suspended provided that you do not work in the Resilient Floor Covering Industry (as defined in Section 1.25 of the Plan Document).
2. You can work up to 499 hours in a calendar year at a job covered by this Plan without having your pension benefits suspended, provided that:
   • You work for an Employer who is required to make contributions to this Plan; and
   • You notify the Fund Office and Local Union Office in writing before you begin such work.

3. You can work as many hours as you want for an employer who is required to make contributions to this Plan, provided that the work you do is not work covered by this Plan.
4. You can work under a Salting Agreement without having your benefits suspended. The Salting Agreement must be approved by the local area union, and must be presented to the committee designated by the Trustees for approval.

If you work more than 499 hours in a job covered by this Plan for a contributing employer in a calendar year or if you do any type of work for wages or profit anywhere in the Resilient Floor Covering Industry either as an employee for an employer who is not making contributions to this Plan or as a self-employed worker, your pension benefits will be suspended for each month that you work in such prohibited employment.

After Age 65:

1. You can work as many hours as you want without having your pension benefits suspended provided that you do not work in the Resilient Floor Covering Industry (as defined in Section 1.25 of the Plan Document).
2. You can work up to 499 hours in a calendar year at a job covered by this Plan without having your pension benefits suspended, provided that:
   • You work for an Employer who is required to make contributions to this Plan; and
   • You notify the Fund Office and the Local Union Office in writing before you begin such work.

3. You can work as many hours as you want for an employer who is required to make contributions to this Plan, provided that the work you do is not work covered by this Plan.
4. You can work as many hours as you want in the Resilient Floor Covering Industry without having your pension benefits suspended provided that you do not do such work in the geographical area covered by this Plan.
5. You can work up to 39 hours in a month (or in a 4 or 5 week payroll period) in the Resilient Floor Covering Industry in the geographical area covered by this Plan without having your pension benefits suspended.
6. You can work under a Salting Agreement without having your benefits suspended. The Salting Agreement must be approved by the local area union, and must be presented to the committee designated by the Trustees for approval.

If you work more than 499 hours in a job covered by this Plan for a contributing employer in a calendar year or if you work more than 39 hours in a month (or in a 4 or 5 week payroll period) either as an employee or a self-employed worker in the Resilient Floor Covering Industry in the geographical area covered by this Plan (the “39-hour” rule will not apply to work covered by this Plan for a contributing employer until you have worked 499 hours), your pension benefits will be suspended for each month that you work in such prohibited employment.

For Disability Retirements, the following rules apply:

Please Note:  Under the Rehabilitation Plan, the Disability Pension is discontinued as of January 1, 2011 and will not be available to any Participant who becomes totally and permanently disabled on or after that date.  If as of January 1, 2011 you were either receiving a Disability Pension or you had applied for and are entitled to a Disability Pension, your Disability Pension will not be discontinued.  The following provisions are applicable before January 1, 2011:

Before Age 60:

1. You are only entitled to receive Disability Pension benefits from this Fund while you are totally and permanently disabled, as the result of bodily injury or disease, to engage in or perform any of the duties of any occupation for which you may reasonable be fitted by reason of education, training or experience.
2. If you lose entitlement to Social Security Disability benefits or recover from your disability sufficiently to be able to engage in any substantial gainful work, you must notify the Fund Office immediately.

In May of each year, you must submit to the Fund Office a copy of your May Social Security Disability check or a statement from your doctor certifying that you continue to be totally and permanently disabled in order to continue to receive disability pension benefits from this Plan.

After Age 60:

Once you attain age 60, you will continue to receive your pension benefits even if you do not continue to remain totally and permanently disabled provided that you remain “retired” as defined above.

Notices

Upon commencement of pension payments and annually thereafter, the Trustees shall notify the pensioner of the Plan rules governing suspension of benefits.

A pensioner must notify the Plan in writing prior to starting any work of a type that is or may be prohibited without regard to the amount of earnings or the number of hours of such work.

Whenever the Board becomes aware that a pensioner is working or has worked in prohibited employment in any month after attaining normal retirement age and has failed to give timely notice to the Plan of such employment, the Trustees may, unless it is unreasonable under the circumstances to do so, act on the basis of a rebuttable presumption that the pensioner has worked the number of hours prohibited by the Plan for the period before notice is given in writing to the Board that prohibited employment has ceased.  This presumption may be overcome by establishing that such work was not in fact an appropriate basis, under the Plan, for suspension of benefits.

On an annual basis, each pensioner younger than age 73 whose pension became effective on or after February 1, 1974, is required to furnish the Board of Trustees with a Social Security Earnings Report Authorization.  If a pensioner fails to furnish such authorization or other documentation as required by the Board of Trustees, his or her pension will be suspended until such information is provided.

Recovery of Overpayments

Overpayments attributable to payments of benefits made for any month or months during which a pensioner engaged in prohibited employment will be deducted from benefits otherwise payable, subsequent to the period of suspension.  If the pensioner is over age 65, the deduction will be 100% of the initial resumption payment or the full suspendible amount, whichever is less; thereafter, the deduction will not exceed in any month 25% of that month’s total benefit payment which would have been due but for the deduction.

If the pensioner dies before recoupment of suspendible amounts has been completed, deductions will be made from any benefits payable to the surviving spouse or beneficiary.  The 25% deduction limitation will apply after the first such payment if the pensioner was over age 65.

Additional Credits after Return to Covered Employment

If you return to work in covered employment, you will receive additional pension benefits when you again retire based on the additional benefits you earn while working, subject to the Rehabilitation Plan Provisions described throughout the applicable sections, above.

If you retire before Normal Retirement Age (65) and subsequently return to covered employment and earn additional benefits, you will have two pensions when you once again retire.  Your first pension will be in the same amount and type you were receiving before you returned to work.  You will not be entitled to a new election as to the Spousal Pension or any optional form of benefit payment provided by the Plan.  Your second pension will have a separate pension effective date and will be based on the additional benefits you earned while your first pension was suspended.  If the value of your second pension is 5,000.00, or less, you will receive a lump sum payment equal to the value of this pension.  If the value is greater than 5,000.00, you will be offered all the benefit options provided by the Plan.

If your pension effective date is on or after the date you attained Normal Retirement Age and you subsequently return to covered employment and earn additional benefits, these additional benefits will be payable, when you once again retire, in the same form as the form of benefit payments you were receiving prior to your return to work, subject to the Rehabilitation Plan Provisions described throughout the applicable sections, above.  Any additional benefits earned after Normal Retirement Age will be determined as of the end of the calendar year in which they were earned.

Any additional pension benefits earned after your required beginning date will be determined at the end of each calendar year and paid to you by the end of the first month of the calendar year following the calendar year in which you earned the additional benefits.2

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2 Your “required beginning date” depends upon whether or not you are a 5% owner.  If you are a 5% owner, your required beginning date is the April 1 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which you attain age 70 ½. If you are not a 5% owner, your required beginning date is the April 1 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which you attain age 70 ½ or, if later, the calendar year in which you cease working in covered employment, whichever you choose.

Delayed Retirement

Subject to the Rehabilitation Plan Provisions described in the applicable sections throughout this document, if your pension effective date is after your normal retirement age and you do not work in prohibited employment in any full calendar month after your normal retirement age and before your pension effective date, you will be entitled to a pension payment for any such calendar month(s).  Payment of such delayed retirement pension benefit will be made in the form of a lump sum payment or as an actuarial increase to the pension benefit payable at your pension effective date.  You will be given a choice of the way you want this pension benefit paid at the time you retire.