A participant or beneficiary who is adversely affected by a decision of the Plan Administrator or other agent of the Board of Trustees may appeal that decision to the Board. To appeal an adverse decision on any matter other than a distribution on the grounds of disability, you must submit a letter of appeal to the Plan Administrator within 60 days from notice of the decision. To appeal an adverse decision concerning a distribution on the grounds of disability, you must submit a letter of appeal within 180 days from notice of the decision. Failure to appeal within the applicable time period may be deemed a waiver of any objections to the decision. For any appeal, when you submit your letter, you should submit any other document or information that you want the Trustees to consider. The Board of Trustees will then render a decision, which is final and binding on all parties who may be affected by your claim. See Article 11 of the Formal Plan Text for the Plan's complete detailed appeal procedures. A lawsuit based on the Board of Trustees' denial of benefits must be filed within one year from the date the Board gives you notice of its decision.

Self-directed accounts remain part of the Plan. This means that you may not receive a distribution directly from your self-directed account unless you are otherwise eligible for a distribution, and you submit an application to the Plan Administrator.

Regular distributions to participants are permitted only if you have completely retired from Industry Service, and satisfy one of these other qualifications:

1. You retire under the U. A. Local No. 159 Defined Benefit Plan, whether under Disability Retirement, Early Retirement, Normal Retirement, Service, or Age and Service Retirement, as each is defined in the U. A. Local No. 159 Defined Benefit Plan, even if you do not have sufficient credited service under that Plan to qualify for benefits under that Plan;
2. You reach early retirement age 55, even if you do not qualify for Early Retirement from the Defined Benefit Plan;
3. You become totally and permanently disabled from the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry at any age, even if you do not qualify for Disability Retirement under the Defined Benefit Plan; or
4. You have a qualifying separation from service at any age. In general, you qualify for a distribution if you have not worked in the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry for a period of twelve months. However, there are several exceptions when a shorter period applies:

• for participants who have verified to the satisfaction of the Trustees that they have terminated their employment in Industry Service, if you have worked fewer than 80 hours in the six-month period prior to your application;
• if you have been a contributing employer for six months; and
• if your only service was as an office employee, immediately upon termination of your employment.

 Distributions are available without a separation from the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry in the following situations:

1. You have reached age 70¹/₂, whether retired or not, in which case benefits must commence on April 1 of the next calendar year.
2. You have a financial hardship which you are unable to meet from other sources. A hardship distribution is limited to the amount of your immediate financial need, including up to three months of expenses, or your undistributed elective contributions, only, whichever is less.
3. If you have transferred your membership from the Union to another U. A. Local Union, you may have your Plan account transferred to your new local union's defined contribution plan, if they are signatory to an Inter-Plan Transfer Agreement.
4. If you continue to work in the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry solely in a management position of a contributing employer for twelve or more months, even though you are still employed in the Industry.

If you are divorced before receiving all of your account, the Plan may be ordered to pay benefits to an alternate payee under a Qualified Domestic Relations Order ("QDRO"). A distribution to an alternate payee who is a former spouse may be made at any time, even if the participant is not eligible for benefits, so long as the court order is qualified under federal law and properly served on the Plan. A copy of the Plan's procedures for determining if a domestic relations order is qualified is available to any participant or beneficiary of the Plan free of charge from the Plan Administrator.

The Plan permits creditworthy participants to borrow against their accounts, subject to certain rules adopted by the Board of Trustees. Loans must be repaid through your account at the OE Federal Credit Union. If you borrow against your account, the only income you earn on the outstanding balance is the interest you pay. If you default on a Plan loan, the outstanding balance is declared a distribution from the Plan, and you are subject to taxes on the amount owed, which may include penalty taxes if you are under age 59¹/₂. However, even if your loan is declared a distribution, it remains on the books of the Plan, with interest continuing to accrue, for purposes of determining how much of your account is available for another loan. There is a one-time loan origination fee of $40, and a $25 annual loan maintenance fee. If you are interested in finding out about a Plan Loan, contact the Plan Administrator or the Local Union.

To get information about Plan loans, you may also contact OE Federal Credit Union at the following address or phone number:

OE Federal Credit Union (Martinez Branch)

1875 Arnold Drive, Suite 101

Martinez, CA 94553-4251

(925) 370-9200

 For additional information: (800) 877-4444 or https://oefederal.org/ 

How You Earn Benefits

The Plan is a profit-sharing plan, maintained pursuant to collective bargaining agreements between Local Union No. 159 of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, AFL-CIO ("the Union"), and various employer associations and individual employers. Any employee who has performed covered employment under a collective bargaining agreement calling for contributions to the Plan (and who has not received a total distribution of his or her interest in the Plan) is a participant in the Plan. All accounts in the Plan are 100% vested at all times.

 Mandatory Employer Contributions

The U. A. Local No. 159 Master Labor Agreement requires, among other things, that employers contribute fixed amounts of mandatory contributions under Internal Revenue Code Section 401(a) for each hour of covered employment worked by each of their covered employees. There are different mandatory employer contributions for different classifications of employees.

Please note that a portion of the mandatory employer contributions to the Plan are allocated to the Pension Augmentation Program. This special pension augmentation fund is allocated once a year to the accounts of participants who worked during the prior year in employment for which contributions were made to the Defined Benefit Plan, but not to this Plan. The amount of contributions made to each qualifying participant's account is a proportional share of the special pension augmentation fund, but in no event more than $2.00 per hour of qualifying employment.

 Elective Employee Contributions

Participants may also elect to have additional elective "401(k)" contributions made to their Plan account through salary deductions, provided you complete the required 401(k) election form mailed to you annually by the Union. Participants are given an opportunity to change their election once a year. You select what amount you would like to be deferred through salary deductions, and all contributions made on your behalf are credited to your Individual Account. If you are 50 years old before the end of the year, you are eligible to make catch-up contributions. You are not allowed to make elective deferrals during any taxable year that exceeds the dollar limitation set forth yearly by the Secretary of Treasury.

There is also an election, in December of each year or upon a change in your coverage status, under the Health and Welfare Plan to opt-out of the medical benefits portion of that Plan if you have other group health coverage. If you qualify and elect to opt-out of the Health and Welfare Plan, an additional $6 per hour is contributed to this Plan on your behalf.

 The following contributions are also accepted by the Plan:

1. The Plan accepts contributions on behalf of Plan participants who travel to the geographical jurisdiction of other U. A. Local Unions, in accordance with reciprocity agreements with the trust funds affiliated with those Local Unions.
2. The Plan accepts Eligible Rollover Distributions of assets from other qualified plans. The Plan also accepts transfers similar to rollovers, on behalf of new members of the Union, from other U. A.-affiliated defined contribution plans which have adopted an Inter-Plan Transfer Agreement with this Plan.

The Internal Revenue Code imposes annual dollar limits on the contributions to this Plan. These limits apply to all of the above-listed items except rollovers and inter-plan transfers.

Participant statements are issued quarterly. Your statement will include the number of hours which were reported and the contributions which were paid on your behalf in the quarter. Statements also include the net gain or loss earned by your account during the previous period. If any of the information on your statement is incorrect, please contact the Plan Administrator immediately.

If you are retired prior to age 65 and you return to employment in any capacity in the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry inside or outside of California, and you are receiving installment payments, your payments will be suspended. If that occurs, you may not elect to receive a lump sum distribution, until you have reached age 65 and retired from Industry Service. If you are retired at or after age 65, your benefits, whether in the form of installments or a lump sum, will be suspended for any month in which you work forty (40) hours or more in any capacity in the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry within the State of California.

The 401(k) elective deferrals which are made to your account are not subject to income tax. However, you will pay employment taxes on your 401(k) elective deferrals. These employment taxes include Social Security, Medicare, SDI and other state taxes. The elective contributions to your account may not exceed the annual dollar limits set forth yearly by the Secretary of the Treasury.

All distributions from the Plan are subject to ordinary income taxes, unless they are rolled over. If you elect a lump sum form of benefit, or installment payments for less than ten years, you may elect a trustee-to-trustee transfer to an IRA or to another tax-qualified pension plan which accepts such transfers. However, if a distribution is eligible to be rolled over, and it is not rolled over, then 20% of the distribution will be withheld by the Plan for federal income taxes.

If you are under age 59¹/₂ and do not do a rollover, you may also have to pay a 10% additional income tax on early distributions (unless an exception applies). Payments made after you separate from service if you will be at least age 55 in the year of the separation are an exception to the 10% additional tax.