Article 4: Eligibility and General Plan Provisions >>

4.4 I.O. Health Reciprocal Agreement and Proration Under Certain Collective Bargaining Agreements

It is recognized that some Participants fail to qualify for Health coverage because they travel out of the geographic area covered by the Plan. In accordance with national I.O. Guidelines, contributions received from another Health Fund that participates in the I.O. Health Reciprocity Agreement will be credited to the Employee as hours worked. To be eligible for this reciprocity program you must have:

1. been eligible under this Plan within six (6) years of the first work month included in the contribution transfer or;
2. be a newly organized member of I.B.E.W. Local 11 prior to the date of contribution transfer or;
3. moved your ticket to I.B.E.W. Local 11 prior to the date of contribution transfer.

When the hourly rate of contributions being transferred to this Plan is less than the hourly rate of contributions paid directly to this Plan under the Inside Wireman’s collective bargaining agreement in effect at the time of the contributions transfer, the hours credited to you under this Plan will be prorated in accord with the example shown below. The same method of proration shall apply to provisions in CBAs calling for contributions lower than the standard rate. The Administrative Office can advise you of CBAs subject to this provision.

For example, if a Participant works 150 hours in a reciprocal area where the hourly Health contribution rate is $8.10, and the Employee designates Local 11 as the Home Fund, with a current hourly Health contribution rate of $11.94 (Inside Wireman’s Agreement of $13.19 minus the contribution of $0.55 towards the Health Reimbursement Arrangement Account and $0.70 towards the Supplemental Unemployment Benefit Plan) the hours would be prorated as follows:

Participating local rate $8.10/ Home local rate $11.94 = 67.8392%

150 hours x 67.8392% = 101.75 credited Health hours.

Note: There are periodic changes in the employer contribution rate. Check with the Administrative Office for the current rate for your reciprocal area and for the current home local rate.

All reciprocal Contributions received by this Plan more than three (3) calendar months from the close of the month in which the hours were actually worked shall be credited as Hours Worked three (3) calendar months prior to the month in which the Contributions are received rather than the month in which the hours are worked. However, the hours will be applied to the month in which the hours were actually worked if doing so would provide eligibility by work hours for a month for which a COBRA continuation of coverage payment was made and that COBRA continuation payment shall be refunded.

Example: Hours Worked in January and received in April would be credited as worked in January. Hours Worked in January and received in May would be credited as worked in February.

In accord with longstanding administrative practice for certain Collective Bargaining Agreements which do not include retiree health plan coverage, the Inside Wireman’s Agreement contribution rate is reduced by the then existing hourly contribution for retiree coverage as allocated by the Union. Solely for the period from April 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 the Inside Wireman’s Agreement contribution rates solely for purposes of this Section 4.4 shall be $11.69. In accord with longstanding administrative practice for certain Collective Bargaining Agreements which do not include retiree health plan coverage, the aforesaid rate is reduced by $1.25 for purposes of the proration process from April 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021.