Alaska Teamster-Employer Welfare and Pension Trusts

3.2 Vesting Service

For purposes of establishing an entitlement to Early and Rule of 85 Retirement Benefits, your Contributory Years of Service will be used instead of the Vesting Service described here.

3.2.1 Vesting Service Earned for Work in Covered Employment

For purposes of determining vesting in your Normal Retirement Age benefit, you earn one Year of Vesting Service when you work between 250 and 2,000 Contributory Hours during a Plan Year.

If you work less than 250 hours during a Plan Year after June 30, 2001, you earn a partial Year of Vesting Service equal to your Contributory Hours divided by 250.

EXAMPLE:
200 hrs = .80 years of Vesting Service
250

If you work more than 2,000 hours during a Plan Year, you earn more than one Year of Vesting Service equal to your Contributory Hours divided by 2,000.

EXAMPLE:
2080 hrs = 1.04 years of Vesting Service
2,000

3.2.2 Vesting Service for Covered Employment Before You Become a Participant

When you become a Participant, you may receive Vesting Service credit for past Covered Employment if both of the following requirements are met:

• You worked at least one hour in Covered Employment during each Plan Year; and
• The Plan Years are consecutive with the Plan Year in which you become a Participant.

EXAMPLE:
Brian worked the following Contributory Hours:

Plan Year	Hours	Vesting Service
2013	50	0.20
2014	100	0.40
2015	50	0.20
2016	1,200	1.00

Brian became a Participant in Plan Year 2016 the month after he worked over 250 Contributory Hours during that Year. He also received a partial year of Vesting Service credit for the hours he worked in Plan Years 2013, 2014, and 2015, for a total of 1.80 years of Vesting Service for Plan Years 2013 through 2016.

3.2.3 Vesting Based on “Contiguous Non-Covered Employment”

You can also earn credit toward vesting if you work for a Contributing Employer in a job which is not covered by the Plan immediately before or immediately after you earn Contributory Hours with that employer, without any interruption or termination of your employment. If you have such Contiguous Non-Covered Employment, you must inform the Trust Customer Service Office.

3.2.4 Vesting Based on When You Reach Your “Normal Retirement Age”

The Plan’s Normal Retirement Age is the later of the following:

age 65, or
the fifth anniversary of the date you became a Plan Participant.

If you reach Normal Retirement Age while still a Participant in the Plan, you will then be vested in your Normal Retirement Age benefit even if you do not yet have sufficient years of Vesting Service to have vested under the sections above.