The Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust

This section explains what you need to know about your benefits after you retire. It also explains how you can lose benefits or earn additional benefits if you go back to work after retirement. You should review this information even before you retire.

Topics below:

Suspension of Benefit Rules
Suspendible Employment
Hours Limit Rule
Employment Reporting Requirements
Annual Retiree Certification
Suspension of Benefit Payments
Re-Starting Your Suspended Benefits
Special Rules
Pension Increases
Other Retirement Information
Automatic Bank Deposits
Tax Withholding
Retiree Address Changes
Lost or Stolen Checks

Suspension of Benefit Rules

You can lose Plan benefits if you work in suspendible employment after retirement. Your Plan’s suspension of benefit rules (effective January 1, 2003) are explained below. Different rules apply to your work before 2003. If you have questions about what rules applied before 2003, contact your Area Administrative Office for details.

Your Plan’s benefit suspension rules apply to your suspendible employment only if you take early retirement. If you take normal retirement, you can work as much as you want in any kind of job without worrying about forfeiting your monthly benefit.

If you retired on a disability retirement and return to work, you may lose your entitlement to Social Security disability benefits and therefore your Plan disability benefits. Click here for details.

If you take early retirement, once you reach age 65, you can work as much as you want in any kind of job and still receive your monthly benefit (beginning with the month that follows your 65th birthday).

If you decide to go back to any kind of work after you retire, Plan rules require that you notify your Area Administrative Office in advance if you are under age 65. You should do so even if you think your work is not suspendible employment. That way you can find out beforehand if your work may cause you to lose any benefits.

The easiest way to obtain a written confirmation about your work is to call or write your Area Administrative Office to request a "Request for Evaluation of Reemployment" form. Or, if you have Adobe® Acrobat® Reader on your computer, click on the following to download a copy of the Request for Evaluation of Reemployment form.

Downloadable Form (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 213k)

Once you download the form to your computer, you can print it, fill it in and mail it back to an Area Administrative Office. (You cannot send the form via e-mail)

If Plan representatives find out that you are working before age 65, and you have not already reported it, your benefit payments may be suspended while your Area Administrative Office gathers more information. Click here for reporting requirements.

Suspendible Employment

Your Plan defines two kinds of suspendible employment:

Covered employment
Non-covered employment.

Covered employment
Definition: Covered employment is work that you perform for an employer who is obligated to make contributions to the Pension Trust on your behalf under a pension agreement with a Teamster local union.

Your covered employment before age 65 is suspendible employment if it meets all of the following conditions. The work must be in:

A trade or craft in which you worked at any time while covered by the Plan before your retirement, and
Any industry covered by the Plan when your retirement benefits begin (even if you never worked in that industry before retirement), and
Any geographic area covered by the Plan when your retirement benefits begin (even if you worked in a different location before retirement).

Non-covered employment
Definition: Non-covered employment is work you perform that is not covered under a pension agreement with a Teamster local union.

Your non-covered employment before age 65 (including self-employment) is suspendible employment if it meets all of the following conditions. The work must be in:

A trade or craft in which you worked at any time while covered by the Plan before your retirement, and
An industry in which you worked at any time while covered by the Plan before your retirement, and
Any geographic area covered by the Plan when your retirement benefits begin (even if you worked in a different location before retirement).

Hours Limit Rule

Under your Plan’s suspension of benefit rules, your pension benefits must be suspended if you return to work in excess of certain hour limits and are under age 65. Under these rules, you lose the right to receive your retirement benefit payment for any calendar month if the hours of suspendible employment you work (or are paid for) equal or exceed your hours limit for that month.

Your Plan counts hours that you actually work as well as hours for which you are paid (such as vacation, jury duty, sick leave or other paid hours).

Your hours limit is:

If your reemployment occurs in a month that begins before or includes your 60th birthday, you will forfeit your monthly benefit if you work 50 or more hours of suspendible employment in that month.
If your reemployment occurs anywhere between the month following your 60th birthday and the month ending with your 65th birthday, you will forfeit your monthly benefit if you work 85 or more hours of suspendible employment in a month.
If your reemployment occurs in a month after your 65th birthday, there is no hours limit. You can work any number of hours and your benefits will not be suspended.

If your reemployment occurs in a month after your 65th birthday, there is no hours limit. You can work any number of hours and your benefits will not be suspended.

If you are paid on a basis other than hours worked, such as mileage, your hours of suspendible employment are determined using the same formula that determines the number of hours for which your employer is required to make contributions to the Pension Trust.

If the Plan cannot determine your actual hours of suspendible employment, you are charged with the number of hours of suspendible employment for the month equal to your hours limit for that month if:

You receive pay for eight or more days (or separate work shifts) in that month, or
You receive pay for eight or more days (or separate work shifts) in any four-week or five-week payroll period ending within that month.

Employment Reporting Requirements

If you take early retirement and are still under age 65, you must inform your Area Administrative Office whenever you return to any kind of work after retirement—covered or non-covered—even if you believe that work is not suspendible employment.

You must provide enough information about your work, including the number of hours worked, for the Plan to determine whether your work is suspendible employment and whether your hours each month equal or exceed your hours limit.

The easiest way to obtain a written confirmation about your work is to call or write your Area Administrative Office to request a "Request for Evaluation of Reemployment" form. Or, if you have Adobe® Acrobat® Reader on your computer, click on the following to download a copy of the Request for Evaluation of Reemployment form.

Downloadable Form (Adobe Acrobat PDF, 213k)

Once you download the form to your computer, you can print it, fill it in and mail it back to an Area Administrative Office. (You cannot send the form via e-mail)

Once you are age 65 or older, there are no reporting requirements.

If you are subject to the Plan’s suspendible employment rules and your Area Administrative Office finds out that you are working and you did not report the work as required, Plan rules assume you are working in suspendible employment at or above your hours limit. Your benefit payments are suspended until you provide your Area Administrative Office with more information about your work.

Your benefit payments do not resume unless you provide satisfactory evidence that you worked less than your hours limit each month or that your work is not suspendible employment.If you are subject to the Plan's suspendible employment rules and your Area Administrative Office finds out that you are working and you did not report the work as required, Plan rules assume you are working in suspendible employment at or above your hours limit. Your benefit payments are suspended until you provide your Area Administrative Office with more information about your work. Your benefit payments do not resume unless you provide satisfactory evidence that you worked less than your hours limit each month or that your work is not suspendible employment. Click here to learn about the hours limit that apply to you

Annual Retiree Certification

If you take early retirement, the Plan sends you an Annual Retiree Certification each year where you must list all work performed in the previous calendar year. The form also authorizes the Plan to get information from Social Security about your work.

Plan rules require that you complete and return the Annual Retiree Certification within 30 days. (The annual certification requirement is waived for calendar years after your 65th birthday.)

If you are under age 65 and do not return the completed Annual Retiree Certification to your Area Administrative Office by the deadline, your monthly benefits are suspended.

Benefits are also suspended if your completed Annual Retiree Certification shows that you worked in the previous calendar year but does not provide enough information for the Plan to determine if your work is suspendible employment, or if your hours equaled or exceeded the applicable hours limit in any month.

As long as you are under age 65, your benefits will continue to be suspended until you provide satisfactory evidence that you either worked less than your hours limit per month or that your work is not suspendible employment.

Suspension of Benefit Payments

If your benefits are suspended because of your reemployment, you are sent a notice of suspension of benefits during the first month for which your benefits are suspended, telling you what is being done and why.

Once your benefits are suspended for reemployment, you lose your right to receive retirement benefits as long as you are under age 65 and continue working in suspendible employment at or above your hours limit. If you do receive benefit payments for any months when your hours of suspendible employment equal or exceed your hours limit, you must repay these amounts to the Pension Trust.

You can repay the amounts by check or the Plan deducts amounts you owe from any future benefit payments including benefits payable after your death.

Once your suspendible employment ends, Plan benefits can start up again. However, amounts you still owe are deducted from your first monthly benefit payment. If your first benefit payment is not enough to recover what you owe the Pension Trust, 25 percent of your future benefit payments are withheld until the entire amount is repaid.

Re-starting Your Suspended Benefits

If your retirement benefit is suspended because you return to employment, your benefits are not re-started until you complete and file a Benefit Resumption Notice with your Area Administrative Office.

This notice should be filed once you stop working in suspendible employment, turn age 65 or your hours of suspendible employment fall below your hours limit. You can request this notice from your Area Administrative Office.

Special Rules

Grandfather Protection
If you retired and began receiving Plan benefits before May 1994, only covered employment is considered suspendible employment. If this applies, you can work as much as you want in any non-covered job without triggering a benefit suspension.

If you retire and begin receiving Plan benefits after April 1994, special benefit suspension rules may apply if you worked in non-covered employment during May of 1994. They only apply if you have not worked in any covered employment since April of 1994. Your Area Administrative Office can give you more information about these special rules and whether they apply to you.

Additional Protection
Special benefit suspension rules may apply if you return to work in non-covered employment and in an industry different from any industry you worked in before retirement. Under these rules, if the unit you are working in later becomes covered by the Plan, your retirement benefit will not be suspended when your work for that employer changes from non-covered to covered employment.

This special rule no longer applies if you go to work for another employer. Your Area Administrative Office can give you more information about these special rules and whether they apply to you. Your can give you more information about these special rules and whether they apply to you.

Pension Increases

If you return to covered employment after retirement, you may qualify for increased benefits once you again retire. There are two ways you can increase your benefit:

Pension increase
Total benefit recomputation

Pension Increase
A pension increase is separate from your original retirement benefit. The increase is based only on the basic contributions paid on your behalf during your period of reemployment. The pension increase is payable in addition to your original benefit amount.

There are two ways you qualify for a pension increase:

You complete at least 750 covered hours after your original pension effective date, or
You complete at least 750 covered hours after the date your last pension increase takes effect.

If you take disability retirement, the Plan only looks at your covered hours after age 65 to see if you qualify for a pension increase.

The earliest date you can receive your pension increase is January 1 following the year when you qualify.

Click here for information about how to start your pension increase.

Total Benefit Recomputation
With a total benefit recomputation, your original retirement benefit is canceled and replaced with a completely new benefit. Your new benefit is based on your covered hours and basic contributions earned before your original retirement plus the covered hours and basic contributions you earn after your original retirement. Your new recomputed benefit is based on your age on your new pension effective date and is adjusted to reflect the value of all benefit payments you already received.

There are two ways you qualify for a total benefit recomputation:

You complete 1,500 covered hours within a 12-month period and do so within 36 months of your original pension effective date and before age 70, or
You complete 6,000 covered hours over a 60-month period after your pension effective date and do so before age 70.

If you take disability retirement, you cannot qualify for a total benefit recomputation.Click here for information about how to start your recomputed benefit.

Applying for Pension Increases
Before you can receive your pension increase or total benefit recomputation:

You must again retire from employment if you are under age 65.
You must apply for benefits.
You must qualify for a pension increase or total benefit recomputation.
The Pension Trust must approve your application.

If you apply for a total benefit recomputation, your application is processed using the rules and procedures explained in the Receiving Plan Benefits section.

If you are under age 65, your Plan’s suspension of benefit rules also apply to your new recomputed benefit. The rules apply beginning with your new pension effective date.

If you apply for a pension increase, your application is processed using the rules and procedures explained below.

Once your Area Administrative Office verifies your eligibility for the increase, you are sent an information packet containing your personalized Benefit Election Form that explains the payment options available for your pension increase. The amounts shown are based only on the basic contributions paid for your covered hours during your period of reemployment. They are paid in addition to your original benefit.

When you apply for a pension increase, it is considered separate from your original benefit. Since your pension increase is a separate benefit, you can choose a different benefit payment option for your pension increase than you chose for your original retirement benefit, as long as the increase takes effect during or before the year when you turn age 65.

Click here for details about making your pension choices.

Your Plan’s suspension of benefit rules also apply to your pension increase. If you are under age 65 and go back to suspendible employment after your pension increase starts, both your original benefit and pension increase are suspended for any month when your total hours of suspendible employment for the month equal or exceed your hours limit.

Other Retirement Information

Here are some items to keep in mind throughout your retirement. You are sent more information when your retirement begins.

Automatic Bank Deposit
Your Plan offers a free service to directly deposit your monthly check with your bank or other financial institution. Here’s why most retirees choose this direct deposit method:

The service is free
Payments are electronically transferred directly to your bank, avoiding delays in the mail service.
You don’t have to worry about depositing your bank check since it will automatically be in your bank account as of the first of the month. This saves you a trip to the bank and ensures that the check is deposited even when you are out of town.
Lost or stolen checks are avoided since they are not sent by mail.
You have the flexibility to change your bank or the address where your check is sent.

You can choose this automatic bank deposit service by attaching a copy of a voided check with your retirement application. You can also choose this service after you retire by calling Prudential Financial at (800) 336-3387.

Tax Withholding
Under federal tax law, benefit payments are subject to federal income tax withholding unless you choose otherwise. At retirement, your Area Administrative Office sends you an Option Election Packet that contains the forms you use to make your retirement decisions.

Your Option Election Packet also contains several Internal Revenue Service forms including the Withholding Election Form. You must use this form to choose whether or not you want federal income
tax withheld from your monthly benefit payment.

Before completing this form, be sure to review the Internal Revenue Service Notice to Payee of Withholding of Federal Income Tax from Periodic Pension Payments. Then send your completed Withholding Election Form back to your Area Administrative Office (not to the Internal Revenue Service).

If you live in a state where you are subject to state income tax, you must also complete a State Income Tax Withholding Form (included in your Option Election Packet).

Contact your tax advisor if you have questions about how much to withhold or how your Plan benefits should be reported to the Internal Revenue Service each year.

By January 31 each year, your Plan sends all retirees and beneficiaries Internal Revenue Service Form 1099R. This form shows the total amount you received from the Plan during the past calendar year. It also shows the amounts of any federal or state taxes withheld from your benefits that year.

Prudential Financial will automatically send you a statement twice each year showing the total benefits you received for the prior six-month period.

If you want to change your withholding decisions after you retire, contact Prudential Financial by calling their toll-free number (800) 336-3387.

Retiree Address Changes
After you retire, it’s important to keep the Plan informed of changes in your home address. If your pension check is mailed to your home and you move, it may take up to two months before your check is mailed to your new address. Contact Prudential Financial at their toll-free number (800) 336-3387 as soon as you are aware of your new address.

If your pension checks are automatically deposited with your bank, it’s still important to keep the Plan advised of any changes to your home address. Plan updates and your annual Internal Revenue Service Form 1099R or Form 1042S are mailed to your home address.

Lost or Stolen Checks
If your benefit checks arrive by mail, they may not always get there by the first of the month. If you check is late, wait until the fifth of the month before contacting Prudential Financial. You can call their toll-free number at (800) 336-3387. If you lose your check or know that it is stolen, call immediately.