Northwest Carpenters Retirement Plan

Post-Retirement Employment and Suspension of Benefits 

If you are retired under this plan and under age 65, you can work up to 480 hours in the building and construction industry without your monthly benefit being suspended. If you are age 65 and older, you can also work an additional 39.5 hours per month without a suspension. However, your monthly benefit under this plan will be suspended when you engage in post-retirement employment as described below. Your monthly benefit will be reinstated on the first day of the month following the appropriate suspension.

Before Age 65

To be deemed retired prior to attainment of age 65, you must withdraw and completely refrain from any work with an employer that contributes to the Trust. If you retire and subsequently work anywhere for wages or profit in the building and construction industry your benefits are subject to suspension. Building and construction industry means business activities of the types engaged in by any employers maintaining the plan. Work means work of the type performed by employees covered by the plan or work which requires, directly or indirectly, the use of the same skills employed by an employee at any time under the plan.

If you work 480 hours or less in a calendar year, your monthly benefit from this plan will not be suspended. This is known as the "480 Hour Rule." If you do work more than 480 hours in a calendar year, one or both of the following two penalties apply:

1. If you work more than 480 hours during a calendar year and you are under age 65, three months of retirement benefits will be suspended. For each month in which you work one or more hours thereafter, an additional one month of benefits will be withheld (please see example 1).
   
   In example 1, you worked full time (40 hours per week) for three consecutive months. You then worked one additional hour in April. The one hour worked in April brought your calendar year total to 481 hours. Therefore, your monthly retirement benefit is suspended for three months.
   
   
2. If you work more than 480 hours during a calendar year, are under age 65 and are retired under rule of 80 early retirement, your monthly benefit will be recalculated under the regular early retirement provisions of the plan based on your age at retirement following the suspension described in penalty one above (please see example 2).
   
   In example 2, you worked full time (40 hours per week) for three consecutive months. You then worked one additional hour in April. The one hour worked in April brought your calendar year total to 481 hours. Therefore, your monthly retirement benefit is suspended for three months. Following the three-month suspension, your monthly benefit is recalculated under the regular early retirement provisions of the plan based on your age at retirement. This new benefit amount is payable for the rest of your life.
   
   There is a one-time exception to the benefit reduction from the rule of 80 early retirement amount to the regular early retirement amount described above. Your monthly benefit is not reduced if both of the following two rules are satisfied:

Example 1

Month	Hours Worked	Retirement Benefit Status
January	160	Benefit payable
February	160	Benefit payable
March	160	Benefit payable
April	1	Benefit suspended
May	0	Benefit suspended
June	0	Benefit suspended
July	0	Benefit payable
August	0	Benefit payable
September	0	Benefit payable
October	0	Benefit payable
November	0	Benefit payable
December	0	Benefit payable

Example 2

Month	Hours Worked	Retirement Benefit Status
January	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
February	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
March	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
April	1	Benefit suspended
May	0	Benefit suspended
June	0	Benefit suspended
July	0	Regular early benefit payable
August	0	Regular early benefit payable
September	0	Regular early benefit payable
October	0	Regular early benefit payable
November	0	Regular early benefit payable
December	0	Regular early benefit payable

1. You worked less than 580 hours in that calendar year.
2. This was the first time you worked more than 480 hours during a calendar year in post-retirement service.

In example 3, you worked full time (40 hours per week) for three consecutive months. You then worked 99 additional hours in April. The 99 hours worked in April brought your hourly total to 579 in the calendar year. Therefore, your monthly retirement benefit is suspended for three months. Following the three-month suspension, your monthly benefit is reinstated at the rule of 80 early retirement amount.

If you work 580 hours or more in a calendar year or you work more than 480 hours in two consecutive or non-consecutive calendar years, your monthly benefit will be reduced to the regular early retirement amount following the suspension. Example 4 illustrates this rule.

In example 4, you worked full time (40 hours per week) for three consecutive months. You then worked 100 additional hours in April. The 100 hours worked in April brought your calendar year total to 580 hours. Therefore, your monthly retirement benefit is suspended for three months. Following the three-month suspension, your monthly benefit is recalculated under the regular early retirement provisions of the plan based on your age at retirement. This new benefit is payable for the rest of your life.

Example 3

Month	Hours Worked	Retirement Benefit Status
January	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
February	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
March	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
April	99	Benefit suspended
May	0	Benefit suspended
June	0	Benefit suspended
July	0	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
August	0	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
September	0	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
October	0	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
November	0	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
December	0	Rule of 80 early benefit payable

Example 4

Month	Hours Worked	Retirement Benefit Status
January	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
February	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
March	160	Rule of 80 early benefit payable
April	100	Benefit suspended
May	0	Benefit suspended
June	0	Benefit suspended
July	0	Regular early benefit payable
August	0	Regular early benefit payable
September	0	Regular early benefit payable
October	0	Regular early benefit payable
November	0	Regular early benefit payable
December	0	Regular early benefit payable

After Age 65

When you attain age 65, benefits are subject to suspension for work in the building and construction industry in the geographic area covered by the plan. The "480 Hour Rule" and what is known as the "40 Hour Rule" work together to determine when a benefit is suspended:

• During each calendar year, you may choose to work a total of 480 hours. During that period, there is no restriction on how many hours you may work in a specific month. Retirement benefits are not suspended if you work 480 hours or less during a calendar year.
• If you work 480 hours during a calendar year (as described above), you may also choose to work less than 40 hours in any month after the month the 480 hours was reached without a suspension of retirement benefits. If you work 40 hours or more in any month after the month the 480 hours was reached, your monthly benefit will be suspended accordingly.

If you retired under rule of 80 early retirement, you are no longer subject to the benefit reduction following a suspension when you attain age 65.

Building and construction industry means business activities of the types engaged in by any employers maintaining the plan. Work means work of the type performed by employees covered by the plan or work which requires, directly or indirectly, the use of the same skills employed by an employee at any time under the plan.

• For additional information about suspension of benefits, please see Article 6.4.

Last Updated: 04/20/2023