Northwest Carpenters Retirement Plan

Breaks in Service and Termination 

If you are not vested in this plan and work less than 500 hours of service in a calendar year, you incur a one-year break in service. If you are not vested in this plan and have five consecutive one-year breaks in service, you incur a permanent break in service and all credited service and any monthly benefit earned from that credited service are forfeited. Even if you become vested in this plan at a later date, previously forfeited service and contributions cannot be counted toward your retirement benefit.

This plan has two break in service rules that allow you to reinstate one-year breaks in service as described below.

Five Year Rule

You can avoid a permanent break in service if you have at least 500 hours of service in a plan year before incurring five consecutive one-year breaks in service. For example, if you have four consecutive one-year breaks in service (years in which you worked less than 500 hours), you must have at least 500 hours in the fifth year to avoid a permanent break in service. Reinstatement is retroactive to your first year out but does not include permanently forfeited service.

  • For additional information about the five year rule, please see Article 3.5.2.

Rule of Parity

You can avoid a permanent break in service if you have at least 500 hours of service in a plan year before the number of consecutive one-year breaks equals your accumulated credited future service. For example, if you have seven years of credited future service and then incur six consecutive one-year breaks in service, you must have at least 500 hours of service in the seventh year to avoid a permanent break in service. Reinstatement is retroactive to your first year out but does not include permanently forfeited service. This example and the rule of parity in general apply to the ten-year vesting rule.

  • For additional information about the rule of parity, please see Article 3.5.1.

Last Updated: 04/20/2023