700 can you explain why this little caveat is in there? Why would my union want to handcuff me to not being able to work again if I chose to or needed to for some reason?
If you return to work after you have retired and while you are receiving a pension from the National Pension Plan, your pension may be suspended, depending upon your age and the type of work you are doing.
If you have reached normal retirement age, your pension benefits will be suspended for any month in which:
You work 40 or more hours in any industry and geographical area which was covered by the Plan when you retired, and
Your employment is in any trade or craft in which you worked at any time under the Plan after your contribution date, which is generally the date on which a contributing employer first became obligated to make contributions to the Plan (or a prior plan) on your behalf.
If you have not reached normal retirement age, you cannot receive pension benefits and work for a contributing employer or for any other employer – including self -employment - in the same or related business or industry from which you retired, regardless of the number of hours worked or the geographical area in which you worked. Further, you may not work in any employment that would be disqualifying employment at normal retirement age.
Your pension benefits will not be suspended after you have reached the date at which benefits must be paid automatically – generally, the April 1 of the year following the year in which you are 70 ½ years old. (See When Are Paid Automatically)
If you are thinking about accepting any employment after you retire, please contact the Fund office to get a ruling on that employment. You are required to report all employment to the Fund office within 30 days of the start of such employment.
The Trustees may require you to periodically provide information about your employment status.
Disability pensioners are required to report any employment to the Fund office within 15 days of returning to work. Failure to make a timely report of employment may result in disqualification of benefits for six months.
If the Trustees find, from any source, that you have worked in employment as just described and you have not notified the Fund, the Trustees will presume that you are working 40 hours a month in disqualifying employment and will suspend your pension for that month and each subsequent month until you give written notice that you are no longer working or establish that the employment is not disqualifying employment.
If You Disagree With the Decisions of the Trustees
If your benefits are suspended, or if you receive a decision about employment that you question, you have the right to appeal. You must file a written request with the Trustees within 180 days after a notice is mailed to you. The Trustees will consider your appeal and they will respond to you in writing. Their decision will include their specific basis for their decision and specific reference to Plan provisions on which the decision is based. The decision of the Trustees will be final and binding on all concerned.
What Else You Should Know About Working After Retirement
If you intend to stop working and start collecting your pension again, you need to notify the Fund office in writing that you have left employment.
If you were working for a contributing employer, you may have earned additional future service credit. If so, your retirement benefit will be higher.
If the first time you retired was before your normal retirement age, any benefits you earn after you return to work will be payable in any benefit form you select when you retire again. In addition, you may elect to receive such benefits in a single payment if the actuarial present value of the subsequent benefits is $7,500 or less as of the new pension effective date.
If the first time you retired was after your normal retirement age, any benefits you earn after you return to work will be paid in the same form as your benefits were being paid before the suspension.
Your payments can resume no later than the first of the third month after the month in which you left disqualifying employment, and after you have notified the Fund office that you have done so. The initial payment will include any amount withheld during the period after your disqualifying employment has ended and before your pension benefits resume.
However, if you received pension benefits for months in which your check should have been suspended, the Trustees may deduct that amount from your pension when it starts again. No more than 25% of each monthly pension payment will be deducted, except for the first check, in which up to three months of benefits may be withheld.
For employees of groups joining the National Pension Plan on or after April 1, 2003, future service benefit values will be calculated at 60% of current benefit values
