Distributions

Time of Payment

The purpose of the Plan is to provide additional savings for retirement. Therefore, the Plan does not generally permit distribution of any part of your account balance until your employment terminates due to retirement, disability, resignation or discharge. However, exceptions can be made in the case of certain qualifying hardships, which are described below in a separate section.

In any case, if you are a 5% owner of a contributing employer, you must begin to receive your benefit by April 1 of the year after the year in which you reach age 70-1/2 even if you remain actively employed in the steamfitting industry. If you are a 5% owner of a contributing employer, you should advise the Fund Office of your status. If you do not do so and payments do not begin as required, you may be subject to a special 50% tax on the amounts you should have received.

Retirement Distributions

Your vested account values will be distributed when you retire (at the normal retirement age under the Plan, which is 65, or later). Distribution can also be made if you retire early, become totally and permanently disabled, or if you leave employment in the steamfitting industry. For this purpose, if you are not retiring, you are considered to have left the steamfitting industry on the last day of the fourth quarter in which no contributions are received on your account, unless you have actually engaged in Covered Employment after the end of such fourth quarter but before the Fund Office has finished recording your fourth quarter hours.

Payments are made directly to you, or, in the event of your death, to your beneficiary. Federal law requires a married participant to designate his spouse as beneficiary, unless he submits the specific written notarized consent of his spouse to another beneficiary designation.

Form of Payment

Account Balance Less than $1,000

If your account value does not exceed $1,000 (or any greater amount permitted under the law), upon termination of your service for any reason, it will be paid to you in a single sum as soon as practicable after your service terminates.

Account Balance More than $1,000

If your account value exceeds $1,000, you may receive your distribution as soon as reasonably feasible after your termination or you can delay taking your distribution until you reach age 65. Whenever you elect to receive your distribution, you will receive your benefit in a single sum cash payment.

Example 1:

A married participant, with an account balance of $800 terminates his service at age 32. The Plan will distribute his benefit in a single sum as soon as reasonably feasible after his service terminates. The employee has no choices to make in this case.

Example 2:

An unmarried participant, with an account balance of $35,000, leaves the steamfitting industry at age 45. The participant may choose to receive his distribution as soon as feasible after his service terminates, or to wait until he reaches age 65. He elects to defer receipt of his benefit, so until he reaches 65 his account balance will continue to be invested under the Plan in accordance with his instructions and he will be charged a share of Plan expenses just as when he was actively employed in the industry. When he reaches age 65, he is still unmarried and his benefit, including any earnings or losses since the time his employment ended, will be distributed to him.

Hardship Distributions

A hardship distribution may be available for the following purposes:

• to pay the cost of post-high school education for you or a member of your immediate family at an accredited institution of higher learning
  
  
• to pay uninsured medical or dental expenses for you or a member of your immediate family for which there is no reimbursement from any other source
  
  
• to purchase your principal residence
  
  
• to prevent your eviction from or foreclosure upon your principal and only residence
  
  
• to assist you if you are partially and/or temporarily disabled so as to be unable to work in Covered Employment, but only if you have exhausted all other resources available to you
  
  
• to help you recover from damage from a natural disaster (such as a hurricane) if...
  
      -the area you live and/or work in has been declared a federal disaster area,
  
      -you suffered material damage as a result of the natural disaster, and
  
      -the damage you suffered consists of physical injury or property damage which will restrict your ability to work and care for your family
  
  
• Funeral or burial expense for a deceased parent, child, or dependent.
  
  
• Repair of a principal residence due to flood, water or other loss.
  
  

If you think you have incurred a hardship which would justify a withdrawal, contact the Fund Office to request an application form. You will be required to present evidence of your hardship and to certify that you have no other resources with which to meet your need. In any case, your withdrawal cannot reduce your account balance below $100.

Death Benefits

If you die before you receive your entire benefit under the Plan, the full value of your accounts will be paid to your designated beneficiary. As soon as feasible after your death, your account balance will be transferred to the Putnam Money Market Fund pending identification of your beneficiary.

If you are married, you must designate your spouse to receive your entire account balance, unless your spouse has given a written, notarized consent to another specific beneficiary or consented to all future changes of your beneficiary designation. The Plan reserves the right to reject any designation of multiple or successive beneficiaries if it would be unduly burdensome to the Plan.

If a beneficiary designation is not in effect at the time of your death, the Plan will pay your benefit to your spouse, if living, otherwise to your estate.

If your beneficiary is not your spouse, the Plan will pay the beneficiary in a single sum as soon as reasonably feasible after your death.

If your spouse is your beneficiary, your spouse may elect to receive the benefit immediately, or may delay payment for any period, but not beyond what would have been your normal retirement date. If payment is deferred, your spouse may direct the investment of your account until a distribution is made and your account will be charged fees in the same way as when you were alive.

Non-Assignability of Interest

Apart from your right to name a beneficiary to receive any distribution payable upon your death, federal law requires that no right to payment under the Plan can be subject to sale, transfer, pledge, assignment, anticipation, attachment or encumbrance of any kind. However, the Plan is required to honor any Federal income tax levy or any qualified domestic relations order which directs it to pay all or a part of a participant’s benefit to his former spouse, children or other dependent.

If you are unable to care for your affairs at the time when you would otherwise receive your benefit and you do not have a duly appointed legal guardian, the Plan trustees, in their discretion, may pay your benefit for your support or for the support of your spouse and any minor children, in full discharge of the Plan’s obligation to you.

Amendment and Termination of the Plan

The Trustees have reserved the right to amend or terminate the Plan at any time for any reason. Any action amending or terminating the Plan will be taken by the Board of Trustees of the Steamfitters’ Industry Supplemental Retirement Fund, the Plan sponsor, which may act at a meeting or by written consent. If the Plan is terminated for any reason, your account values will remain 100% vested.