What Type of Survivor Benefits Are Payable if an Employee Dies BEFORE Retirement?
What Is the 75% Unreduced Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension?
What Is the 50% Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension?
Small Benefit Cash-Out
What Is the Preretirement Lump Sum Death Benefit?

What Type of Survivor Benefits Are Payable if an Employee Dies BEFORE Retirement?

There are three types of benefits payable before retirement. They are the 75% Unreduced Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension, the 50% Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension and the Lump-Sum Death Benefit. Only one of these benefits will be payable.

What Is the 75% Unreduced Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension?

If you are married and die before retiring on a pension (and are active at the time of death), your spouse may be eligible for a 75% Unreduced Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension. Four important requirements must be met for the 75% Unreduced Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension to be payable;

1. You must have earned at least ten (10) pension credits,
   
   
2. You and your spouse must have been married to each other for the one-year period ending on the date of your death,
   
   
3. You must have earned an hour of work after December 31,1975
   
   
4. You must be an “active participant” at the time of your death. To be considered active, you must not have separated from covered employment at the time of your death. You separate from covered employment as of the end of a two consecutive calendar year period during which you do not earn at least one minimum unit of pension credit (1/12 of a pension credit beginning in 1990; before 1990, 1/4 of a pension credit), and
   
   
5. Your death occurs on or after April 1, 1999 (or prior to April 1, 1999, if your spouse was still receiving a Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension from the Plan as of April 2000). The amount of the 75% Unreduced Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension is equal to 75% of the unreduced single-life pension amount which could have been payable had you retired on the day before you died. The benefit is not reduced for payment as a Husband-and-Wife Pension or for your age at death.
   

What Is the 50% Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension?

If you are married and die after August 22, 1984, but before retiring on a pension and you do not meet the requirements for the 75% Unreduced Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension, your spouse may be eligible for a 50% Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension. Three important requirements must be met for the 50% Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension:

1. You must have earned the pension credit or vesting service required for a pension.
   
   
2. You and your spouse must have been married to each other for the one-year period ending on the date of your death.
   
   
3. You must have earned an hour of work after December 31, 1975.

If you die after you meet the service requirements for payment of a pension and you are age 55 or over, the amount of the 50% Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension is equal to 50% of the Husband-and-Wife Pension amount which would have been payable had you retired on the day before you died, calculated as if you had retired on the day before you died and elected the 50% Husband-and Wife Pension.

If you die after you meet the service requirements for a pension but before age 55, your eligible surviving spouse will receive 50% of the Husband-and-Wife amount you would have received at age 55.

Small Benefit Cash-Out

All of the Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pensions described above will be paid on a monthly basis for the remainder of your eligible surviving spouse’s lifetime beginning with the month following the month in which you died, except that if the total value of the applicable Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension is $5,000 or less, the Board of Trustees will make a lump-sum payment to your surviving spouse.

What Is the Preretirement Lump Sum Death Benefit?

A lump-sum payment of $1,500 will be paid to your beneficiary if:

1. you die before receiving any pension benefits, and
   
2. you have at least 10 pension credits, including at least 4 pension credits earned during the contribution period, and
   
3. the Unreduced 75% Partial Surviving Spouse Pension or the Preretirement Surviving Spouse Pension is not payable

 

Caution: If you work at least one hour of employment in the Sheet Metal Industry that is not covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the employer and the Union after December 31, 1989, this death benefit is not payable.