Special Early Retirement

Eligibility and Retirement Effective Date

To be eligible for special early retirement you must be:

• Vested in this plan.
• Age 55 through age 64.
• Have at least 750 covered hours in this plan sometime in the three calendar years immediately preceding your retirement effective date.
• No longer working in the building and construction industry in any geographic area.

Your retirement effective date is the later of the first of any month following your 55th birthday or the first of the month following receipt of your completed Application.

For additional information about special early retirement eligibility, please see Article 4.2.2 and Article 6.12.1.

Monthly Benefit

Under special early retirement, you can retire at ages 62-64 and your total monthly benefit is not reduced for early retirement. To qualify for special early retirement, you must have five years of credited future service in this plan and have at least 750 covered hours in this plan sometime in the three calendar years immediately preceding your retirement effective date. If you retire between the ages of 55 and 61 and satisfy these same requirements, your early retirement reduction is less than it would be if you retired under regular early retirement.

Under special early retirement, your monthly income is your total monthly benefit, less the appropriate reduction for special early retirement (if applicable), less the appropriate reduction for a joint and survivor benefit (also if applicable). Your total monthly benefit is reduced because your monthly payments will begin earlier and will probably be paid for a longer period of time than if you had retired under normal retirement. Special early retirement reduction factors are listed in Table 6. Joint and survivor factors are listed in Table 7. The following examples illustrate how to calculate a special early retirement income.

Calculations

Example 1

You retire at age 62 with a single life benefit of $2,000.00:

Total Monthly Benefit  =  Monthly Benefit
 
$2,000.00  =  $2,000.00

In this example, your $2,000.00 total monthly benefit is not reduced because there is no early retirement reduction at ages 62-64 with special early retirement and there is no reduction for a survivor benefit with a single life benefit.

Example 2

You retire at age 60 with a single life benefit of $2,000.00:

Total Monthly Benefit  x  Special Early Reduction Factors  =  Monthly Benefit

$2,000.00  x  .9400 (94.00%)  =  $1,880.00

In this example, your $2,000.00 total monthly benefit is reduced by $120.00 for special early retirement. This represents an additional 9.00% subsidy by the plan under special early retirement.

Example 3

You retire at age 60 with a total monthly benefit of $2,000.00. Your spouse is five years younger than you and you elect a 50% joint and survivor benefit:

Total Monthly Benefit  x  Special Early Reduction Factors  =  Monthly Benefit
$2,000.00  x  .9400 (94.00%)  =  $1,880.00

Reduced Monthly Benefit  x  Joint and Survivor Reduction Factor  =  Monthly Benefit
$1,880.00  x  .8550 (85.50%)  =  $1,607.40

$1,607.40 per month for your lifetime

$803.70 per month for your surviving spouse’s lifetime

In this example, your $2,000.00 total monthly benefit is reduced by $120.00 for special early retirement and by $272.60 to provide a continuing monthly income for your surviving spouse’s lifetime.

Your special early retirement income can be increased with the pension enhancement option (please see Pension Enhancement Option).

For additional information about the monthly benefit available under special early retirement, please see Article 6.2.2.