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Summary Plan Description (SPD)
7. WILL MY BENEFIT BE REDUCED FOR EARLY RETIREMENT?
If you are an Active participant and meet the eligibility requirements for an Early Retirement Benefit, your benefit will be unreduced. However, there are certain circumstances in which your benefit would be reduced. If so, your Early Retirement Benefit is calculated by reducing the Normal Retirement Benefit by a factor equal to 0.4% for each month your Early Retirement Date precedes your Normal Retirement Date under either of the following situations:
- If it is deemed that a reduction in benefit is necessary as a result of a Grace Period, the pension payable with respect to service prior to the Grace Period would be reduced. Please refer to Question 16 for more details. If the loss of hours was due to disability, no reduction will be applied. If you cease to be a Covered Employee as a result of having become a signatory contractor sponsoring the Plan, the Grace Period will be waived and the benefit will not be reduced.
- If you are an Inactive Vested Participant or Inactive Participant and were not eligible for Early Retirement at the completion of your most recent Grace Period, the pension payable with respect to service prior to the Grace Period will be reduced.
In general, a reduction will not occur if: A) a Participant completes no more than 2 Grace Periods, and the total number of Plan Years in which the Participant fails to earn at least 375 Covered Hours does not exceed a combined total of 5 Plan Years, and B) combining the Participant’s overall Credited Service, the Participant completes at least 25 years of Total Credited Service prior to Early Retirement.
A table of reduction factors at commencement ages from 55 though 64 is shown below. The appropriate reduction percentage at other ages can be calculated by multiplying .004 times the number of months that your early retirement date precedes your normal retirement date. The column on the right shows an example assuming a monthly benefit of $2,500 at age 65.
| Age at Commencement | Reduction Percentage | Benefit Percentage payable at Early Retirement | Resulting Monthly Benefit |
| 55 | 48.0% | 52.0% | $ 1,300.00 |
| 56 | 43.2% | 56.8% | 1,420.00 |
| 57 | 38.4% | 61.6% | 1,540.00 |
| 58 | 33.6% | 66.4% | 1,660.00 |
| 59 | 28.8% | 71.2% | 1,780.00 |
| 60 | 24.0% | 76.0% | 1,900.00 |
| 61 | 19.2% | 80.8% | 2,020.00 |
| 62 | 14.4% | 85.6% | 2,140.00 |
| 63 | 9.6% | 90.4% | 2,260.00 |
| 64 | 4.8% | 95.2% | 2,380.00 |
| 65 | 0.0% | 100.0% | 2,500.00 |
Article 4 of the Pension Plan document covers benefit calculations. Please contact the Administrative Office if you want an estimate of your pension benefit.