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Retirement
 

Participation

If you are covered by the Plan if you are included in an employee classification defined by the Retirement Plan you are an eligible employee. As an eligible employee, if you are included in an employee classification covered by the Plan, you will automatically become a participant in the Retirement Plan when you complete your first Hour of Service. See the Glossary of Technical Terms for a definition of capitalized words. See Appendix A of this Summary Plan Description for the employee classifications eligible to participate in the Retirement Plan.

Naming a Beneficiary

When you become enroll a participant in the Retirement Plan, you must also name a beneficiary to receive Retirement Plan benefits if you should die before you receive your entire vested benefit as an active employee from the Retirement Plan. Your beneficiary can be your spouse, child, brother, sister, parent or anyone else you wish. If you are married, you must have your spouse's consent if you wish to designate someone other than your spouse as your beneficiary. This consent must be in writing and witnessed by a notary.

To properly assign or change a current Beneficiary, please click on the below link for an MS Word Document. Please make special note that this form needs to be witnessed by someone other than any designated beneficiary.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
Beneficiary Form

 

 

PENSION PLAN FEATURES

TRUSTEE

 

NBT Bank, NA

 

ELIGIBILITY

Accepted job classification. No age requirement. Must work at least 1 hour of service per year.

 

HOURS REQUIRED TO RECEIVE CONTRIBUTION

 

1,000 hours is required to receive a contribution. Coverage testing may lower the minimum hours. In addition, if you have attained age 59 ½ regardless of the number of hours that you worked during the Plan Year, you will also receive an allocation of the Employer Member Contribution.

 

CONTRIBUTION TYPES

 

  1. Employer – Prevailing Pension Supplement (PPS); 1.5% of compensation for non-PPS work; discretionary
  2. Employee - after-tax
  3. Rollover of Qualified Plan assets

 

YEARS OF SERVICE

 

1,000 hours is required for 1 year of service. Can be combined if employed by more than 1 Association member during the year. In the event that the 1,000 Hours of Service requirement for purposes of receiving an allocation is reduced in order to satisfy coverage testing, the Hours of Service for Vesting Purposes shall also be reduced to the same number of Hours of Service as required to pass coverage testing.

 

VESTING

As of 01/01/07 the Association's revised graduated vesting schedule is as follows: (A year of service credit will be earned for any year in which a participant works at least 1,000 hours or more).

  • 2 years 20%
  • 3 years 40%
  • 4 years 60%
  • 5 years 80%
  • 6 years 100%

You will become 100% vested upon: death while employed, permanent disability while employed, or attainment of Normal Retirement Age (age 55 with 6 years of service).

 

INVESTMENT OF FUNDS

Collective Trust Fund (ratably apportioned among a number of Investment Fund Managers, each with a specific set of guidelines for their investment activity).

QCI Asset Management Inc. has been retained as the Association's outside consultant to assure the prudent investment of funds.

 

DISTRIBUTIONS

You will receive a distribution upon: attainment of Normal Retirement Age (age 55 with 6 years of service), death while employed, permanent disability while employed, or termination of employment from all Association Members with 3 consecutive one-year breaks- in-service. A 3-year break is measured from end of the last plan year (calendar plan year) in which a participant was last employed by an Association Member.

The value of a Participant's Accrued Benefit will be determined as of the Valuation Date coincident with or immediately preceding the date that benefits are to be distributed. If a distribution occurs more than 30 days after the most recent Valuation Date, the distribution will include investment gain/loss as of the last day of the most recent month prior to the distribution. Investment gain/loss will be determined as if the last day of the most recent month was a Valuation Date.

TAX CONSEQUENCES OF DISTRIBUTIONS

All distributions are subject to income tax except where they are rolled over to an IRA or another qualified plan within 60 days.

Upon a complete separation from service at the Normal Retirement age of 55 with 6 years of service (and 100% vesting) the Participant can take his account balance without incurring the 10% early tax penalty. However, if the participant decides to keep working beyond the Normal Retirement age of 55 with 6 years of service, he can still take a distribution, however, he would be subject to the 10% early penalty tax if a distribution is taken before age 59 ½ .

There are three different types of contributions that can be made to the Employer Members of the Empire State Highway Contractors Association, Inc. Employees' Retirement Retirement Plan:

· Employer Member Contributions

· Employee After-Tax Contributions

· Rollover/Transfer Contributions

Employer Member Contributions

(a) Each Plan Year, the Employer Member will make contributions equal to the sum of:

 
(i)
 The Prevailing Pension Supplement, (“PPS”).
 
(ii)

1.5% of Compensation of Participants for which no Prevailing Pension Supplement contribution is made pursuant to Section 3.04(a)(i).
 
(iii)
 Any additional amounts as determined by the Board of Directors of the Employer Member , in its discretion.

(b)  In order to receive your allocation of the Employer Member Contributions you must have received credit for at least 1,000 Hours of Service during the Plan Year. In addition, if you have attained age 59 1/2, regardless of the number of hours that you worked during the Plan Year, you will also receive an allocation of the Employer Member Contribution.

If less than 70% of the covered employees (excluding those employees who terminated employment and have received credit for less than 500 Hours of Service) are eligible to receive a contribution, the number of Hours of Service will be reduced until at least 70% of the employees are covered. If the Hours of Service necessary to receive a contribution are reduced to cover at least 70% of the employees, the Hours of Service necessary to receive a Year of Vesting Service will also be reduced to the same number of hours (effective January 1, 2003).

Amount of Contribution

If you satisfy the Hours of Service requirement, the amount of the Employer Member Contribution will be the largest of the following amounts:

  (i) The Prevailing Pension Supplement, (PPS).
     
  (ii)
1.5% of Compensation of Participants for which no Prevailing Pension Supplement contribution is made pursuant to Section 3.04(a)(i).

For information on how the contribution percentage is calculated, please see the Plan Administrator.

(c) Application of Forfeitures

As of the end of each Plan Year, forfeitures that which have become available for distribution during such year shall be credited to the Employer Member Contribution Accounts of the same participants who are entitled to share in the Employer Member Contributions for the Plan Year. Such amounts shall be allocated as additional Employer Member Contributions as described above. See page 9 of the Summary Plan Description for information about Forfeiture of Non-Vested Benefits.

Employee After-Tax Contributions

Each participant may elect to make Employee After-Tax Contributions not to exceed 10% of his or her their compensation through a Payroll Withholding Agreement or by a lump sum payment to the trust. The contributions will be a percentage of Compensation and must will be made in even multiples of 1%. IRS rules limit the amount that certain highly compensated employees may contribute. The Plan Administrator will notify you if this limitation restricts the amount you may contribute.

Rollover/Transfer Contributions

If you previously participated in a qualified pension, profit sharing or savings/thrift plan you may be able to deposit the payout you received from that plan into a Rollover/Transfer Account within the Employer Members of the Empire State Highway Contractors Association, Inc. Employee's Retirement Plan Retirement Plan. In doing so, you can protect the tax-deferred status of the payout by transferring the money (or rolling it over) into this Retirement Plan. These are called Rollover/Transfer Contributions.

If you previously received a distribution from a qualified pension, profit sharing or savings/thrift plan and you rolled the distribution to a “Rollover IRA” within 60 days after you received it, you may be able to transfer any distributions from the Rollover/Transfer IRA to the Employer Members of the Empire State Highway Contractors Association, Inc. Employee's Retirement Plan Retirement Plan as a Rollover/Transfer Contribution.

The following conditions apply to Rollover/Transfer Contributions:

 
  • The plan that you formerly participated in must be a pension, profit sharing, savings/thrift or similar plan that is qualified under Section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
 
  • Any tax-free Rollover Contribution must be made within 60 days after you receive it as a distribution from either the plan in which you formerly participated or a Rollover/Transfer IRA.
 
  • A Transfer (or Direct Rollover) Contribution is a payment made directly from a trustee of a qualified plan or IRA to a trustee of another qualified plan or IRA. Note that you are not permitted to transfer amounts from any pension benefit plan sponsored by one Empire State Highway Contractors Association, Inc. (“ESHCA”) Employer Member to a pension benefit plan sponsored by another ESHCA Employer Member. Transfers apply to amounts received from qualified retirement plans other than the ESHCA Retirement Plan.
 
  • Rollover deposits must be in the form of a check or cash. Transfers are made in the form of an electronic funds transfer or a check.

To make a Rollover/Transfer Contribution, you must complete a Rollover/Transfer Contribution Form and submit it to the Plan Administrator. You can make a Rollover/Transfer Contribution as soon as your application is approved. You may choose to print the Request for Distribution form (see link below) and submit it to the Association offices at 2481 Higby Road, Frankfort, New York 13340.

Request for distribution

Please call the Association office at 1-315-895-5303 should you have any questions or need assistance in completing this form.