Pension Benefit Options
Joint & Survivor Benefit
If you are married (for at least one year), this is the default form of benefit unless rejected by both you and your spouse. If you have not been married for at least one year, this form of benefit is optional. Under a Joint and Survivor benefit (J&S), your beneficiary will receive 50%, 75% or 100% of your pension benefit after your death, for the duration of your beneficiary’s lifetime. The amount of your benefit will be actuarially reduced, based on the number of years your beneficiary is either younger or older than you. The amount of this reduction will be highest for a 100% J&S benefit election, and lowest for a 50% benefit election.
Please contact the Fund Office if you would like to see a projection of what your pension benefit would be if you elected either a 50%, 75% or 100% Joint & Survivor pension benefit.
10-Year Guarantee
The 10-Year (120-month) Guarantee is a provision that guarantees that the Fund will pay your benefit for at least 10 years if you should die before the 10-year period is over. If you do not elect a J&S benefit, your beneficiary will receive the remainder of the 120 guaranteed pension payments. If you have a J&S benefit and both you and your primary beneficiary die before the 10-year period is over, your secondary beneficiary will receive the remaining payments.
Pre-Retirement Death Benefit
If you die before you retire and were eligible for a Normal, Early, 30-Year Service or Vested Pension, your spouse will be eligible for a 100% Joint & Survivor pension benefit. However, if you and your spouse had previously filed a J&S rejection, or your spouse waived the J&S pension after your death, your spouse will be eligible for a 10-Year Guarantee pension. If you were not married, but eligible for a pension at the time of death, your designated Beneficiary will be entitled to the 10-Year Guarantee or the J&S Pension. If you were eligible to retire at the time of your death, pension payments will begin in the month following your death. If you were married, but not yet eligible to retire at the time of your death, pension payments will begin in the month after the date you would have reached your earliest retirement age.
If you are not married, or if you and your spouse have rejected the J&S benefit and the 10-Year Guarantee, your beneficiary will be eligible for a "Death Benefit" if, at the time of your death, you:
- were under age 60,
- had at least 10 Future and/or Future-Future credits, and
- two of your pension credits were earned in the four calendar years immediately before the year in which you died.
The amount of the “Death Benefit” is calculated as the number of pension credits times $3,500, to a maximum of $105,000 (30 pension credits). It is paid in 96 monthly installments. After the first six months, your beneficiary would be able to elect to take the remainder of the benefit over 45 months.
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