Summary Plan Description

Earning Service With The Pension Plan

Once you become a Participant in the Plan, you must earn sufficient service and reach the required age in order to be eligible for the receipt of the benefits provided by the Plan.

Covered Service

Covered Service means the period of employment for which the payment of contributions by your Employer is required to be made on your behalf.

Non-Covered Service

Non-Covered Service means the period of employment with your Employer when you do not earn any service with the Plan.

Year Of Participation

If your Employer makes contributions on your behalf for at least 5 months, or 22 weeks, or 1,000 hours, during a calendar year, you will be credited with one Year of Participation. If you work less than 5 months, or 22 weeks, or 1,000 hours during a calendar year, you will receive no credit toward your total Years of Participation. However, any periods worked during a year will be counted towards a Year of Credited Service.

A Year of Participation is important because it is the unit which is used to measure when you become eligible for a 100% Vested Benefit and, also, is used to determine if you have had a Break-in-Service.

Credited Service

Credited Service is the sum of Future Credited Service and Past Credited Service earned by you, and is important because it is the service used to calculate the amount of any benefit received by you from the Plan.

Prior to January 1, 1985, a Participant could not be credited in excess of a maximum of 25 Years of Credited Service. The 25 years maximum did not apply to Participants who earned service under Collective Bargaining Agreements requiring contributions of $58 per week, and $62 per week in the following year, effective April 1, 1982, or thereafter.

Effective January 1, 1985, the 25 years maximum was eliminated for all of the remaining Contribution Rate Schedules, except for those Participants who had contributions made on their behalf at a deficit Contribution Rate Schedule. The 25 years maximum for deficit Contribution Rate Schedules was eliminated effective October 1, 1989.

Year Of Credited Service

A Year of Credited Service is any 52 week period of Future Credited Service and/or Past Credited Service.

Future Credited Service

Future Credited Service is based upon your contributory service and is earned for each month, week, day or hour for which a contribution is required to be made to the Plan on your behalf by your Employer. Future Credited Service also includes "Other Service", which is granted for the following absences, provided that you are in Covered Service at the completion of the absences:

1. Periods of non-occupational disability not exceeding one year in any one period, if under the care of a licensed physician.

2. Periods of occupational disability in the course of employment with an Employer, not to exceed one year.

3. Military service during time of war or national emergency or under a national conscription law if re-employed following discharge within the period provided by law.

Past Credited Service

Past Credited Service is service granted from your most recent employment date with your present Employer or predecessor Employer or Employers in the Industry (including absences because of full-time employment with the Union) to the date the Employer joined the Plan. Past Credited Service will not be granted for any periods of employment prior to:

1.  Any layoff in excess of 90 days, or any layoff after which you do not return to the employment of the Contributing Employer who laid you off.

2.  Any leave of absence because of non-occupational disability in excess of one year.

3.  Any absence because of termination of employment.

4.  Any periods of employment with any Employer whose participation in the Plan was terminated voluntarily by the Employer prior to the date you retire.

You should be aware that if your Employer entered the Plan on or after September 1, 1958, but before September 1, 1974, you will be granted credit for all of your Years of Past Credited Service, subject to a 2% penalty reduction in your benefit for each Year of Past Credited Service in excess of a maximum of 5 Years of Past Credited Service, between September 1, 1958 and the date your Employer entered the Plan.

The 2% penalty is reduced or eliminated for those Participants covered by a contract requiring contributions of at least $31 per week. If on or after April 1, 1976, contributions were made on your behalf under a contract requiring contributions of at least $31 per week, the penalty is reduced to 1% if contributions have been made to the Plan on your behalf for at least 10 years. There is no penalty at all if contributions have been made on your behalf for at least 15 years, and there is no penalty applied to a maximum of 5 Years of Past Credited Service.

However, if your Employer entered the Plan on or after September 1, 1974, your Past Credited Service is limited to a maximum of 5 years, but you will not be subject to the 2% penalty reduction to your benefit when you retire. It is important to note that you will not be granted up to a maximum of 5 Years of Past Credited Service unless you also earn at least 5 Years of Future Credited Service (contributory service).

It is also important to note that Past Credited Service will not be granted to any Participant for periods of employment with any Employers whose participation in the Plan is terminated voluntarily by the Employer prior to the date the Participant retires. In addition, a Participant will not be granted Past Credited Service if the Participant's Employer entered the Plan on or after May 1, 1990 under the "Free Look" provision of Section 4210 of ERISA, and the Employer subsequently terminates partici-pation in the Plan within 5 years.

Past Credited Service is used to calculate both Years of Participation (for the purpose of determining vesting) and Years of Credited Service (for the purpose of determining the retirement benefit).

Example

Assume you were hired by your Employer on January 1, 1978, and your Employer entered the Plan on January 1, 1983. You are eligible to be granted 5 Years of Past Credited Service (the maximum granted for an employee of an Employer who entered the Plan after September 1, 1974) when you retire if you earned at least 5 Years of Future Credited Service (contributory service). However, you will not receive this Past Credited Service in the following circumstances:

If you are subject to the 25 years of total Credited Service limitation as explained at page 12, and you earn at least 21 Years of Future Credited Service with the Plan, you will receive a maximum of 25 years of total Credited Service and your Past Credited Service in this instance will be limited to 4 years; or

Before you retire, your Employer voluntarily decides to withdraw from the Plan. Whether or not you continue your employment with the Employer, none of your Past Credited Service with the Employer will be credited to you when you retire.

Contiguous Service

Normally you are not eligible to utilize your Non-Covered Service for the purpose of calculating your Years of Participation for determining whether you are eligible for Vested Retirement. However, if such Non-Covered Service is Contiguous Service, that service may be utilized in the calculation of your Years of Participation (for vesting purposes), but not in the calculation of your Years of Credited Service (for benefit calculation purposes).

Non-Covered Service is deemed to be "contiguous" if the Non-Covered Service precedes or follows Covered Service, and no quit, discharge or retirement occurs between the Covered Service and the Non-Covered Service. It is important to note that in order for you to be in Covered Service, you must be in a job classification of employees covered with the Plan.

It is also important to note that if your Contributing Employer is a member of a group of organizations under common control, and you are an employee of an organization which is a member of such a group but which organization is not a Contributing Employer, and you subsequently transfer to an organization in the controlled group which is a Contributing Employer, your prior non-contributory service with the organization shall be counted in the calculation of your Years of Participation (for vesting purposes), but not counted in the calculation of your Years of Credited Service (for benefit calculation purposes).

Examples

Assume that you worked for 4 years for ABC Trucking in Pittsburgh in Non-Covered Service. You then transferred in 1990 to a classification covered by the Western Pennsylvania Plan and worked for another 6 years for ABC Trucking in Pittsburgh. Because your Non-Covered Service was followed by a period of Covered Service, and no quit, discharge or retirement occurred between the Non-Covered Service and the Covered Service, your Non-Covered Service will be deemed contiguous, and you will receive a total of 10 Years of Participation for the purpose of vesting, and you will be 100% vested in 1996 for the receipt of benefits. You will also be credited with 10 Years of Credited Service for the calculation of benefits, including 4 Years of Past Credited Service, because you earned at least 5 Years of Future Credited Service.

Assume you earned 5 Years of Credited Service (contributory service) with the Western Pennsylvania Plan while employed by ABC Trucking. Assume further that you were transferred to ABC Trucking's Reading, Pennsylvania location where you were covered with a different Teamsters Pension Fund. As far as the Western Pennsylvania Plan is concerned, you will be working in Non-Covered Service. You then terminate your employment after 5 years at the Reading location in 1996. Because your Non-Covered Service at ABC Trucking's Reading location was preceded by Covered Service at the Pittsburgh location, and no quit, discharge or retirement occurred between the Covered Service and the Non-Covered Service, your Non-Covered Service at the Reading location was contiguous with your Covered Service earned at the Pittsburgh location. You will, therefore, be credited by the Western Pennsylvania Plan with a total of 10 Years of Participation for the purpose of vesting, and you will be 100% vested in 1996 for the receipt of benefits. However, you will have earned only 5 Years of Credited Service (contributory service) for the calculation of benefits from the Western Pennsylvania Plan.

Assume that you worked for ABC Trucking for 1 year prior to the company becoming a contributing employer to the Western Pennsylvania Plan in 1997. Assume further that you continued to work for ABC Trucking, and contributions were made to the Western Pennsylvania Plan until 1999 when you retired at age 60. Pursuant to the contiguous service rules, you will be granted credit for the 1 year you were employed by ABC Trucking prior to the company becoming a contributing employer to the Western Pennsylvania Plan. The 1 Year of Participation will be added to the 3 years of contributory service, and you will have earned the necessary 3 Years of Participation to be 100% vested. However, your benefit amount will be based only on the 3 years of contributions made by the employer. You will not receive credit for the 1 Year of Past Credited Service for computing the benefit amount, because you did not earn at least 5 Years of Future Credited Service (service during which contributions were made to the Western Pennsylvania Plan on your behalf), as explained at page 38.

Break-In-Service

A Break-in-Service means that you, as a Participant, have not had contributions paid on your behalf during an unbroken string of consecutive years, and as the result, all of your Credited Service and Years of Participation stemming from work prior to the Break-in-Service are forfeited. The number of consecutive years you must incur during which no contributions were made on your behalf, and which will result in a Break-in-Service, depends upon the periods of time involved as explained in the following Examples.

If you incur a Break-in-Service before you are vested, all of your Credited Service and Years of Participation stemming from work prior to the Break-in-Service are forfeited. If you incur a Break-in-Service on or after you are vested, your Credited Service and Years of Participation stemming from work prior to the Break-in-Service will not be forfeited. Once you are vested you cannot incur a Break-in-Service.

There are certain absences from work which will not be counted against you in determining if you have incurred a Break-in-Service and will be counted toward a Year of Participation, provided that you return to Covered Employment immediately following the absences. These absences are:

1. Periods of non-occupational disability not exceeding one year, if under the care of a licensed physician.

2. Periods of occupational disability, incurred in the course of employment with a Contributing Employer, not to exceed one year.

3. Temporary layoff of less than 90 days or the first 90 days of longer layoff, provided that you return to the employment of the Contributing Employer who laid you off.

4. Authorized leave of absence for full-time service with the Union for the duration of such service with the Union.

5. Military service during time of war or national emergency or under a national conscription law, if you had reemployment rights and apply for and are reemployed following discharge within the period provided by law; provided, however, that if you reenlist you will not receive Credited Service for the period(s) of reenlistment.

6. Absences from Covered Service by reason of your pregnancy, or by reason of the birth of your child, or by reason of the placement of a child in connection with the adoption of a child by you, or for the purpose of caring for the child during the period immediately following the birth or placement for adoption.

During the period of such absence, you will be treated as having completed (1) the number of hours that normally would have been credited but for the absence, or (2) if the normal work hours are unknown, eight Hours of Service will be credited for each normal workday during such absence. The total number of Hours of Service to be treated for any such period shall not exceed 501 hours, and will be credited only (1) in the year in which such absence begins, if the crediting is necessary to prevent a Break-in-Service in that year, or (2) in the following year.

If you claim such an absence you will be required to provide the Fund Office with a certification that you were absent from Covered Service for one of the above discussed reasons related to maternity or paternity leave.

Hours of Service credited to you which are related to maternity or paternity leave will not be taken into account in determining your Years of Credited Service (for the purpose of calculating the retirement benefit).

The Plan was amended, effective January 1, 1985, to provide that you will incur a Break-in-Service if you do not have contributions paid on your behalf during an unbroken string of calendar years, which is the greater of either five consecutive years, or five consecutive years and additional consecutive years which, in total, at least equals your total number of Years of Participation. The "Five-Year Rule" only applies to you if you did not incur a permanent Break-in-Service under the Plan's rules in effect prior to January 1, 1985.

Example - "Five-Year Rule"

Termination Date: End of month in 1992 when last contribution was paid.

Break-in-Service: Since you earned only 4 Years of Participation, you will incur a Break-in-Service at the end of 1997 because 5 consecutive years followed in which not one contribution was paid into the Plan on your behalf.

Example - "Five-Year Rule"

Termination Date: End of month in 1996 when last contribution was paid.

Break-in-Service: Since you earned 8 Years of Participation, and did not incur a period of five consecutive years without contributions being made on your behalf, you will not incur a Break-in-Service at the end of 1996.

Prior to January 1, 1985, the Plan provided that under the "Rule of Parity", you would incur a Break-in-Service if you did not have one contribution paid on your behalf during an unbroken string of years which, in total, at least equaled your total number of Years of Participation. This rule was made effective by the Plan on January 1, 1976, and applies to all Participants who were in active service on January 1, 1976, and who did not incur a permanent Break-in-Service under the Plan's rules in effect prior to January 1, 1976.

Example - "Rule Of Parity"

Termination Date: End of month in 1980 when last contribution was paid.

Break-in-Service: Since you earned 3 Years of Participation prior to January 1, 1985, you will incur a Break-in-Service at the end of 1983 because 3 consecutive years followed in which not one contribution was paid into the Plan on your behalf.

For a Participant who incurred a permanent Break-in-Service under the Plan's rules in effect prior to January 1, 1976, the effective provisions of the Plan for determining both service earned prior to that date and the calculation of the Participant's benefit, are those rules in effect on the Participant's Termination Date prior to January 1, 1976.

Termination Date

Your Termination Date is the last day a contribution was required to be made by your Employer on your behalf to the Plan.

Remember - You must be aware of your participation and termination dates in the Plan. Your participation and termination dates determine the effective provisions of the Plan for determining your service earned with the Plan and the calculation of your benefit.

If you were an active Participant in the Plan on January 1, 1976 and did not incur a permanent Break-in-Service under the Plan's rules in effect prior to January 1, 1976, the effective provisions of the Plan will be those in effect on your Termination Date after January 1, 1976.

If you were not an active Participant in the Plan on January 1, 1976 (the effective date of ERISA for the Plan), the effective provisions of the Plan for determining service earned prior to that date and the calculation of your benefit will be those in effect on your Termination Date prior to January 1, 1976; if you then became active in the Plan thereafter, and earned service after January 1, 1976 and did not incur a permanent Break-in-Service under the Plan's rules in effect prior to January 1, 1976, the effective provisions of the Plan for determining that portion of your service will be those in effect on your Termination Date after January 1, 1976.

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