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Glossary Glossary

Glossary

 

  • Adverse Benefit Determination means your claim for a benefit in whole or in part has been denied.

     
  • Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) is the 3% adjustment increase made to your Retirement Benefit each May 1 (or a fraction of 3% if you have been retired less than a full year at the time of the increase).

     
  • Covered Employment includes employment as a covered employee by an employer who contributes to the Plan.

     
  • Credited Service includes Past Service, Future Service and Pro Rata Service.

     
  • Designated Beneficiary means the beneficiary most recently designated by the Participant for benefits under this Plan, provided such designation has been filed on a form that is acceptable to the Trustees. Otherwise, it means the beneficiary most recently designated and in effect under the Health and Welfare Plan of the Carpenters’ Health and Welfare Trust Fund of St. Louis. If a Participant dies without a written designation of beneficiary in effect for either this Plan or the Health and Welfare Plan, then the Designated Beneficiary shall be the Participant’s surviving spouse, or if none, the participant's living descendants, per stirpes, or if there are none, the Participant’s estate. If a Designated Beneficiary dies after starting to receive benefits, the remaining benefits shall be paid to such person or persons or organization as the Designated Beneficiary has designated in a form filed with the Trustees or, in the absence of such designation, to the Designated Beneficiary’s estate. If a Participant’s spouse is the Designated Beneficiary, their subsequent divorce or annulment nullifies such designation on the date of the divorce or annulment.

     
  • Eligible Employment includes Covered Employment and Shops Plan Covered Employment. Eligible Employment also includes Non-Covered Employment and Shops Plan Non-Covered Employment that immediately precedes or follows Covered Employment, or Shops Plan Covered Employment with the same employer.

     
  • Forfeiture of Service means all service and benefits earned to date are eliminated and ignored for the purposes of subsequent Covered or Non-Covered employment.

     
  • Future Service means your service credit, other than Past Service, based on hours of service in Covered Employment during a Plan Year.

     
  • Interruption of Future Service Credit is the end of two consecutive Plan Years in which fewer than 400 hours were worked in Covered Employment in each Plan Year.

     
  • Level Benefit means an increased level monthly income payable at the election of the participant in lieu of a COLA benefit (which is subject to annual increases).

     
  • Non-Covered Employment includes employment, other than Covered Employment, by an employer who contributes to the Plan.

     
  • Normal Retirement Date (NRD) for active participants is the first of the month coinciding with or following your 62nd birthday (or your date of Plan participation, if later).

     
  • Past Service means, in general, continuous service in the carpentry trade within the jurisdiction of the St. Louis - Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council of St. Louis and Vicinity (not to exceed 10 years) before you became a participant in the Plan, provided you first became a participant on or before May 1, 1972. Section IV(A) of the Plan Document describes the conditions that apply in crediting Past Service.

     
  • Plan Year means a period of 12 consecutive months beginning on May 1. (Example: May 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010).

     
  • Pension Credit describes the amount of Credited Service earned under the Plan. This credit determines the amount of your Plan benefit.

     
  • Per Stirpes is a legal term used to describe how the distribution of a deceased person’s benefit is divided among beneficiaries when children take the representative share that would have been taken if the parent were still alive. For example, suppose you died unmarried without naming a Designated Beneficiary. A Plan death benefit would be divided equally among your three children. But, if one of those three children had died before you, that son’s or daughter’s one-third share would be divided equally among the children of that deceased son or daughter.

     
  • Pro Rata Service means service earned under another Pension Plan and recognized in a formal pro rata pension credit agreement with the Plan. Pro Rata Service, if applicable, can take a non-vested benefit to partial or full vesting or a partially vested benefit to full vesting. Pro Rata also can be used to attain the required vesting for a Death Benefit or a disability benefit. Pro Rata Service with other Funds does not count toward satisfying requirements for Rule of 90 or 60/30 Rule since these special provisions were specifically created and applied to service earned under the Pension Plan of Carpenters' Pension Trust Fund of St. Louis.

     
  • Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) is a court order subsequent to a divorce or legal separation that modifies a participant’s interest in a retirement plan by assigning the former spouse all or a portion of the benefits payable under that plan.

     
  • Shops Plan is the current Appendix A of the Pension Plan of Carpenters’ Pension Trust Fund of St. Louis, which prior to May 1, 1995, was a separate pension plan named the Carpenters' District Council Shops Pension Plan.

     
  • Shops Plan Covered Employment includes service that is considered Covered Employment under the portion of the Plan applicable to Shops Plan carpenters. Questions about this service should be directed to the Pension Office.

     
  • Shops Plan Non-Covered Employment includes employment other than Shops Plan Covered Employment, by an employer who contributes to the Shops Plan. Questions about this service should be directed to the Pension Office.

     
  • Spouse means the person to whom you are legally married on your retirement date or date of death, except that you must be married to your spouse for at least one year to qualify for certain Pre-Retirement Death Benefits. The validity of marriage shall be determined under the law of the state in which the marriage took place.

     
  • Vesting Service includes Plan Years in which you earn a minimum of 1,000 hours of service in Plan Covered or Non-Covered Employment or Shops Plan Covered or Non-Covered Employment, provided such service was not disregarded because of an Interruption of Future Service Credit or Break in Service (Shops Plan). Vesting Service also includes Shops Plan Reciprocal Service, special credit for Lathers and SEMO and Pro Rata Service. However, Vesting Service from sources other than Future Service Credit under this Plan cannot exceed one year for any Plan Year.