Communications 8085 E. Prentice Avenue
Workers of America Greenwood Village, CO 80111-2745
AFL-CIO, CLC 303-770-2822-Phone 303-793-7927-Fax
………
VIA E-MAIL R-009
September 2, 2014
TO: All Local Union and Retiree Chapter Presidents Representing Legacy Qwest Employees and Retirees
FROM: Reed Roberts, Assistant to the Vice President
SUBJECT: Summary of Retiree Survivor Benefits and the Vested Pension Payout BENEFITS FOR YOUR SURVIVORS
Q. May an active Participant designate a beneficiary to receive the survivor pension benefit under the Plan?
A. Effective January 1, 2009, the Plan was modified to allow all active Occupational Employees to designate a beneficiary for their pension benefit, in the event they die prior to their termination of employment.
If the employee is married, their spouse is their beneficiary unless notarized spousal consent is received allowing you to designate someone else as the beneficiary.
Active Employees may designate their beneficiary online or the Beneficiary Designation for Pre-Retirement Survivor Benefit form can be completed and mailed. (See Pension Survivor Benefit following the Q and A’s)
Q. What pension benefits are available for my survivors if I die as an active employee?
A. There are two types of pension benefits that may be payable to your survivors upon your death. The first are annuity survivor benefits. The second is a
Sickness or Accidental Death benefit; this benefit applies only if you have a TOE date prior to March 1, 1993, you are vested, and you die while actively employed by Qwest. Refer to the section “Death Benefits” for additional information.
SURVIVOR ANNUITY
Q. What annuity pension benefits are available to a survivor of an active Occupational Employee whose death occurred prior to January 1, 2009?
• monthly pension benefit, using PCS at date of death x 45% (this is called the “45% Annuity”),
or
• 50% of the reduced amount you would have received if you had elected to begin receiving pension payments on such date in the form of a 50% Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity.
Effective January 1, 2006, the surviving spouse may elect a lump sum distribution of the preretirement survivor annuity benefit amount.
The annuity will be paid unless the spouse elects a lump sum within 180
calendar days after the Participant’s death, or 60 calendar days after notification, if later. Occupational Participants who were not married on the date of death are not eligible to any preretirement death benefits if the death occurred prior to January 1, 2009.
Q. What pension benefits are available to a survivor of an active Occupational Employee whose death occurred after December 31, 2008?
A. If you are an Active Occupational Participant who is vested at the time of your death, your beneficiary or spouse is eligible to receive a pre-retirement pension benefit payable as a monthly annuity for his or her lifetime.
If you are married, and name someone other than your spouse as the primary beneficiary, such election will require your spouse’s notarized signature; without your spouse’s notarized signature, your spouse will be the beneficiary even if you choose a different beneficiary.
If an active vested Participant named a non-spouse beneficiary for the pre-retirement survivor annuity, the amount of the survivor benefit is 50% of the amount you would have received if you had elected to begin receiving pension payments on the day before your death in the form of a 50% Joint and Survivor Annuity. The value of the annuity may be paid in a lump sum to the named beneficiary.
Deferred Commencement of Survivor’s Benefits. A spouse (but not any other
beneficiary) may defer commencement of survivor benefits, but not later than the date you would have attained age 65.
Your spouse’s annuity benefit will be the greater of:
The 45% Annuity. This amount will not be increased to reflect later payment. OR
The survivor benefit your spouse would have received had you (1) terminated employment on the earlier of your death or date of termination of employment, (2) survived until the date the survivor benefits begin, (3) retired on such date with a 50% Qualified Joint and Survivor Annuity, and (4) died on the day after you retired.
Annuity Starting Date, your spouse will be eligible to receive a monthly annuity over his or her lifetime. This annuity will not start until the date you would have first been eligible to receive a deferred vested pension benefit (in the case of Occupational Participants who terminated employment prior to October 12, 2000 or before becoming Applicable Occupational Participants, this will not occur until age 65 unless such person had 15 or more years of TOE). The amount of this annuity will be 50% of the reduced amount you would have received if you had elected to begin receiving pension payments on such date in the form of a 50% Joint and Survivor Annuity. The 45% Annuity is not available. Pension Survivor Benefit
Effective January 1, 2009 the Pension Plan was changed to pay a pre-retirement benefit in all cases when a vested employee dies prior to receiving the pension benefit. The benefit will be paid to a surviving spouse, a named beneficiary or trust or the
employee’s estate.
All employees (married and single) will have the opportunity to complete a beneficiary designation form at any time prior to benefit commencement that will allow the
employee to name any person, trust or the employees estate as the beneficiary for the pension plan benefit if they die as an active employee or before they start receiving their pension benefit. The beneficiary designation will follow requirements of Federal law regarding the required Joint and Survivor benefit and spousal consent rules.
The current provisions in the Plan pertaining to Spousal benefits were not changed. The Plan would provide a benefit to a non-spouse beneficiary, trust or estate based on a 50% Joint and Survivor annuity calculated as if the participant had started receiving the benefit the day before his/her death. The benefit can be paid as a lump sum if elected within the required time frame. The surviving spouse will receive the greater of:
(a) the amount the surviving spouse would have received if the Participant had
commenced receiving benefits under a 50% qualified joint and survivor annuity on the day before his/her death; or
(b) an amount equal to 45% of the benefit that would have been paid had the participant terminated employment, survived until age 65 and started to receive payments at age 65.
A named beneficiary will receive the amount the surviving beneficiary would have
received if the participant had commenced receiving benefits under a 50% qualified joint and survivor annuity on the day before his/her death. The surviving spouse or named beneficiary may elect to receive a lump sum payment of the actuarial equivalent of the survivor annuity described above if the election is made in the required time frame. If there is no surviving spouse or named beneficiary, a lump sum payment will be paid to the participant’s estate if the participant dies while actively employed or within the
applicable period (currently 180 days after termination) as defined in the plan. Payments to an estate will be based on an assumed beneficiary of the same age as the
All employees, married and single, may name any living person as the beneficiary for the 50%, 75% or 100% joint and survivor annuity options at the time the employee makes the election to receive the pension benefit. The beneficiary designation will follow the requirements of federal law regarding the spousal consent rules. The cost of
providing such payment options will be actuarially equivalent based on the ages of both the participant and the named beneficiary. Compliance with the spousal consent rules of the plan will be followed. The plan currently provides a life annuity with ten years certain payment option that allows a participant to name any living person as the beneficiary following the legal requirements of spousal consent.
There is a difference in how the Pension is calculated and paid out for those employees who were hired or re-hired on or after January 1, 2009
Eligibility
Those employees were hired or re-hired prior to January 1, 2009 and who receive a regular and stated compensation from the Company as a regular full-time, regular or seasonal part-time, an Incidental Employee and a regular Term employee. Regular Part-Time employees (Part-Time Seasonal and Part-Time) shall be eligible to
participate in the Qwest Pension Plan on a prorated basis, as provided by the terms of such plan. This includes those who transferred into the Qwest unit from another
CenturyLink property.
The difference in the Plan from those who hired or re-hired prior to January 1, 2009 is how Pension credits are accrued and portability. Those in the traditional defined Pension Plan earn Pension Credits with almost 40% of the value of the Pension occurring the employee’s final 5 years. Those hired or rehired on or after January 1, 2009 accrue the Pension under an Account Balance Formula (ABF).
Eligibility for a Deferred Vested legacy CenturyLink Pension
Those who transfer into Qwest from another CenturyLink property fall into one of two categories on Pensions. Those who were not covered by a Union contract saw their pensions frozen in 2010.
Those who were part of a legacy CenturyLink property that was union represented still had active pensions.
In both instances, if the employee was vested in the Plan in place, then they retain full rights to that pension under that Plan as a vested participant and will not lose what was accrued. Upon transferring into Qwest, employees will begin to accrue Pension credit. Account Balance Formula (ABF) Each active Occupational Employee hired or rehired after December 31, 2008 will earn a benefit under the Account Balance Formula (ABF). Compensation Credits equal to three percent (3%) of the employee’s eligible
SURVIVOR
ABF Lump Sum. Your beneficiary may elect, within the period described below, to be paid the amount of the lump sum benefit payable under the ABF. The lump sum is based solely on this formula.
If the beneficiary is the spouse, the annuity will be paid unless the spouse elects a lump sum within 180 calendar days after the Participant’s death, or 60 calendar days after receiving the pension election forms, if later. If a non-spouse is the beneficiary and no election is made within 180 days after the Participant’s death or 60 calendar days after notification, if later, the lump sum will be paid.
In general, the annuity survivor’s benefit can also be paid as a lump sum instead of a monthly annuity.
If the employee did not name any beneficiary or if their beneficiary predeceases them, their pre-retirement benefits will be paid to your surviving spouse, or if there is no surviving spouse, to your estate.
ABF Q&As
Q. How are my interest credits calculated?
A. Each January your account balance is credited with an Interest Credit based on the Treasury Rate equal to 3% of the compensation (wages, overtime and commissions that were considered to be taxable income, including deferrals to a 401(k) plan or other pre-tax benefits).. The Treasury Rate is the average of the 30-year Treasury Interest rates in effect during August through December of the Prior year. Interest Credits will continue to be applied to the year-end balance under the ABF until the employee terminates employment and elects to receive their pension benefit.
Example: 2009 total annual compensation $ 45,000.00 Compensation credit (3% of compensation) $ 1,350.00 Interest credit on 2009 Compensation Credit 58.19 Plus 2010 compensation credit $ 1,500.00
Account balance as of 12/31/10 $ 2,908.19
Q. Do I receive Compensation Credits if I terminate employment before the end of the year?
A. Yes. You receive compensation credit through the date you terminated employment.
Q. Does part-time employment affect my ABF benefit?
A. Yes. The ABF formula is based on actual earned eligible compensation. PCS is not used in the calculation.
Q. Do the interest rates affect the amount of my lump sum under the ABF? A. No. The ABF computes the value of a lump sum on the annuity starting date.
This lump sum amount is not affected by interest rates.
A. Yes. Your age 65 monthly single life annuity under the ABF is calculated at your Annuity Starting Date. The applicable interest rates and the applicable Mortality Table at the employees Annuity Starting Date are used in the conversion of the ABF lump sum to the monthly annuity.
Higher interest rates produce a larger monthly annuity amount and lower interest rates produce a lower monthly annuity amount.
DEFERRED VESTED LUMP SUM PENSION PAY-OUT
Q-328 / R-008 dated August 22, 2014 RE: Qwest Pension Plan – Lump Sum Offer The Lump Sum distribution offer for Qwest retirees of their vested pension benefits. This offer is made on a voluntary basis to those retirees who did not have a lump sum option available to them at the time of retirement. This offer covers about 17,000 former employees of legacy Qwest (both represented and non-represented) and is available to those who terminated employment prior to January 1, 2014 and who have not started receiving their pension benefit. Eligible Participants must be under age 65 and the pension cannot be subject to a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (“QDRO”). Former employees who are receiving pension payments or who received their pension in a lump sum are not eligible to participate in the offer.
What is a Deferred Vested Pension?
If you leave Qwest after 5 or more years of vested service and are not eligible for a Service or disability Pension, you will be eligible for a reduced deferred vested pension. TOE When Employment Ends Earliest Age Reduced Payment May Be Elected
15 or more years – Age 60 20 or more years – Age 55 25 or more years – Age 50
An employee’s election to receive payment of a reduced deferred vested pension before age 65 is irrevocable. With less than 15 years of service, an employee would be eligible to a deferred vested pension benefit when they turn age 62. To qualify for a disability pension benefit, the employee must have 15 years of service and would have had to leave the business due to the disability and exhausting the Short Term Disability benefits.
Eligibility to receive pension benefits changed in 2001 to allow employees access to their pension benefits when they terminated employment rather than just when they met Service Pension Eligibility.
A vested employee can request a Pension Kit that includes the required forms that must be completed and returned to initiate payment. The kit includes an estimate of the benefit including the age 65 monthly benefit, the reduced monthly annuity using the deferred vested factors and a lump sum. The lump sum amount is based on default interest rates as the actual interest rates in effect for their Pension Effective Date. Eligibility for a Deferred Vested Pension/Occupational – Mountain Bell, Pacific Northwest Bell and Northwestern Bell
Below is the history for Deferred Vested Pension eligibility. Please note that PNB, NWB and MTN were all a little different from 1986 through 1988 based on their separate pension plans in effect at that time.
• Before June 1, 1969 - No deferred vested plan
• June 1, 1969 to January 1, 1976 - Eligible with 15 years of vesting service and 40 years of age at termination.
• After January 1, 1976 - Eligible if either of the following apply: 10 or more years of vesting service after age 22; or
Employee started to work before age 60 and was a pension plan participant and was employed by the Company at age 65.
• After January 1, 1986 - 10 or more years of vesting service after age 22. • PNB occupational plan had no minimum vesting age effective August 10,
1986.
• After January 1, 1987:
MTN/10 or more years of vesting service after age 18 NWB/10 or more years of vesting service (No minimum
vesting age)
• As of 1/1/1989 - 5 or more years of vesting service
