Association means the Construction Contractors Council, or any other association of Employers that bargains with the Union.

A person designated by the Participant who is or may become entitled to a benefit from the Plan.

A written labor contract or other written agreement between the Union and the Association or an individual Employer requiring contributions to the Plan. It also means any a project labor agreement, signed stipulation with the Trustees, or any reciprocal agreement between the Trustees and another multiemployer pension fund requiring contributions to the Plan. It includes any agreement, including a project labor agreement between the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and any employer, employer group, association of employers requiring contributions to the Fund.

Contributions on your behalf are made only by your Employer at the hourly rate stated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement or other written agreement with your Employer. The contribution rate for employees not covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement and employees of the Union or a fund is provided in the Participation Agreement between the Employer of the employee and the Board of Trustees. With the exception of Eligible Rollover Contributions, employees may not make contributions to the Plan under any circumstances.

If you are covered by a Collective Bargaining Agreement, contributions made by your Employer to another multiemployer pension plan do not affect the amount that may be contributed to this Plan. However, if you are not a collectively bargained employee or if you participate in another defined contribution plan maintained by your Employer which is not a multiemployer plan, the law requires that such other plans be combined with this Annuity Plan to determine if the legal limitation on contributions has been exceeded.

Covered Employment means employment of an Employee by an Employer in a category covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement and for which Contributions are required to be made to the Fund. It also means employment for which Contributions are transferred to the Fund pursuant to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America International Reciprocal Agreement for Carpenters’ Annuity Funds, or other reciprocal agreements recognized by the Trustees.

If you die before your Accumulated Share is distributed, your surviving spouse will receive your Accumulated Share in a lump sum.

If you are not married, or if you designate a beneficiary or beneficiaries other than your spouse, your Accumulated Share will be paid to the beneficiary or beneficiaries in a single lump sum.

Special Rule | Survivor Benefits for Certain Former Participants of the Baltimore Annuity Fund

On April 1, 2005, the Carpenters’ Severance and Annuity Fund of Baltimore, Maryland (“CSAFB” or "Baltimore Annuity Fund") was merged into this Plan. Prior to its merger, the CSAFB was a money purchase plan (this Plan is a profit sharing plan). A money purchase plan is required to offer certain benefits to Participants with individual accounts in excess of $5,000. In accordance with the IRS regulations, a former CSAFB participant may have the right to elect to have the portion of their Individual Account as of the date of merger distributed in a form other than a single lump sum.

This rule is only applicable to married former participants of the CSAFB who die before payments begin under this Plan and who had at least $5,000 in their Individual Account as of March 31, 2005.

Under the CSAFB, if you die before payments begin and you are married at the time of your death, your spouse is entitled to a Pre-Retirement Surviving Spouse Benefit.

The Pre-Retirement Surviving Spouse Benefit is a monthly annuity for your surviving spouse’s lifetime that is the actuarial equivalent of 50% of your Accumulated Share determined on the date of your death. Payment of the Pre-Retirement Surviving Spouse Benefit is provided through the purchase of an annuity contract from an insurance company. The remaining 50% of your Accumulated Share as of the date of your death will be paid to your spouse as a death benefit (unless waived as provided below).

As a result of the merger of the CSAFB into this Plan, the Pre-Retirement Surviving Spouse Benefit will be available to your surviving spouse only if you had at least $5,000 in your Individual Account as of March 31, 2005. Only that portion of your Individual Account based on employment through March 31, 2005 will be paid to your surviving spouse as a Pre-Retirement Surviving Spouse Benefit (unless that benefit is waived), and the portion of your Individual Account attributable to employment on or after April 1, 2005 will be paid as a Pre-Retirement Death Benefit in the form of a single lump sum.

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order (Q.D.R.O.) is a judgment, decree, or order made pursuant to state domestic relations law that relates to a divorce or other domestic relations proceedings which specifies an amount of the Participant's benefit to be paid to an alternate payee, and the manner of such payment. 

Payment to an alternate payee may be paid in any form permitted under the Plan.

Under this Plan, “retire” means to completely withdraw from employment that is within the collective bargaining jurisdiction of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, regardless of whether you are working under a Collective Bargaining Agreement.

You will be eligible for a Retirement Benefit if you: (1) retire; (2) are at least age 55; and (3) provide the Fund Office with evidence that you are receiving a pension benefit from the Mid-Atlantic Carpenters’ Pension Plan or any United Brotherhood of Carpenters’ Pension Plan. Otherwise, you will be eligible for a Retirement Benefit when you reach age 65 (“Normal Retirement Age”) and retire. The Plan maintains a special rule that permits post-Retirement annual in service distributions. Under this rule, if you Retire, receive a Retirement Benefit, and return to Covered Employment, you may apply for and receive no more than one in-service distribution per Plan Year. (Money purchase pension plan monies are not available for distribution under this rule.)

While the Plan will not accept contributions from employees, it will accept a Direct Rollover of an Eligible Rollover Distribution from another qualified plan, tax exempt annuity plan or contract or governmental plan. Moreover, the Plan will accept your contribution of an Eligible Rollover Contribution of an Eligible Rollover Distribution from a qualified plan, tax-exempt annuity plan or contract or governmental plan. Finally, the Plan will accept your Rollover Contribution of a distribution from an individual retirement account or annuity that is eligible to be rolled over and would otherwise be includible in your gross income. If you have any questions on whether amounts you have in another retirement vehicle may be rolled over into this Plan, please contact the Fund Office.

A Severance Benefit is payable if you have permanently separated from Covered Employment. You are considered permanently separated from Covered Employment if you have not worked any hours for which contributions are required to be made to this Plan for a period of six (6) consecutive calendar months, provided that you have not returned to Covered Employment.

Generally, the money in your Individual Account is not taxable until you actually receive it. When you receive the money in your Individual Account, you must report it as taxable income unless your distribution is an “eligible rollover distribution” and you choose to roll over your distribution into an “eligible retirement plan”.

If your distribution is an eligible rollover distribution and you do not elect to roll it over directly to an eligible retirement plan, this Plan must withhold 20% federal income tax from your distribution.

Also, if you are under age 59½ and do not roll over your distribution, you will owe an additional 10% in federal income tax unless you terminated employment at or after age 55, you are totally and permanently disabled (within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code), or other limited exceptions apply. The Plan will not deduct this amount; it will be your responsibility to pay.

Your Accumulated Share is payable as a Disability Benefit at any age if you are totally and permanently disabled under Title II of the Social Security Act (Federal Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Benefits). In determining whether a Participant is totally and permanently disabled, the Trustees solely rely on a determination by the Social Security Administration. 

You are always 100% “vested” in the contributions that are made on your behalf by your Employer from the day you become eligible to participate in the Plan. Being vested means that once contributions are made to your Individual Account, they cannot be taken away from you—even if you leave Covered Employment.