DC 37 ANNUITY FUND PLAN

 

Amendment to the DC 37 Annuity Fund Plan (Rollovers)

• For more information on Amendment to the DC 37 Annuity Fund Plan (Rollovers), click here. (PDF format*)

 

Determining your benefit

You may be eligible to participate in the Plan if you are an employee of an Employer that has entered into a covered collective bargaining agreement with District Council 37 requiring contributions be made to the Plan. If you are an eligible Participant, there are two ways your Employer may have made contributions to the Plan on your behalf-on a "One-Time" basis, or your Employer may have made contributions on a "Recurring" basis, or both. A description of both types of contributions follows. The Employers required to make contributions to the Plan may change. You should contact the Plan Administrator for a current list of the designated covered titles and Employers covered by the Plan.

You may have received a "One-Time" Contribution, in which case the following applies:

As a Participant, as defined above, your service counts for purposes of calculating the amount of your benefit under the Plan. For the period between June 1, 1996 and May 31, 1997, you are entitled to an allocation of Employer contributions equal to $2.00 for each Paid Working Day (explained below) up to a maximum of $522.00. The same contribution rate applies for employees in the bargaining unit designations described in the paragraph above, with the following exceptions:

• For City University of New York White Collar and Blue Collar Employees, the Student Center Employees and the Educational Opportunity Center Employees, the period of service for which contributions are allocated is March 1, 1997 to February 28, 1998
• For Sludge Boat Titles, the period of service is December 3, 1995 to December 2, 1996.

Contributions for service after these respective service periods are payable to the extent provided under collective bargaining agreements.

You may be receiving a "Recurring" Contribution, in which case the following applies:

Certain collective bargaining agreements provide for further allocations of Employer contributions on behalf of designated covered titles in the bargaining units.

Effective March 1, 2000, employees in the following designated covered titles are entitled to allocations of Employer contributions generally equal to $1.00 for each Paid Working Day, up to a maximum of $261.00 per year, until the bargaining agreement no longer provides for such Employer contributions:

• Hospital Technicians,
• EMS and
• Supervisor Highway Repairer.

Effective March 31, 2002, employees in the following designated covered titles are entitled to allocations of Employer contributions generally equal to $4.27 for each Paid Working Day, up to a maximum of $1,114.51 per year, until the bargaining agreement no longer provides for such Employer contributions:

• Asbestos Handlers and
• Asbestos Handlers Supervisor

Effective June 30, 2002, employees in the following designated covered titles are entitled to pro-rata daily allocation of Employer contributions, up to a maximum of $981.36 per year, until the collective bargaining agreement no longer provides for such Employer contributions:

• Highway Repairer,
• Sewage Treatment Workers and Senior Sewage Treatment Worker;
• Locksmith and Supervisor Locksmith;
• Laborers (NYC and Nassau County),
• Laborers (Outside NYC and Nassau County) and City Laborer;
• Construction Laborers and Group C Laborers.

Effective February 22, 2008, employees in the following designated covered titles are entitled to allocations of Employer contributions generally equal to $7.4235 for each Paid Working Day, up to a maximum of $1,930.08 per year, until the collective bargaining agreement no longer provides for such Employer contributions:

• Captain (Sludge Boat),
• Chief Mate,
• Second Mate,
• Mariner,
• Chief Marine Engineer (Diesel),
• First Assistant Marine Engineer (Diesel),
• Third Assistant Marine Engineer (Diesel),
• Third mate, and
• Marine Oiler.

Effective March 2, 2008, employees in designated covered Social Service Titles are entitled to allocations of Employer contributions generally equal to $2.6310 for each Paid Working Day, up to a maximum of $684.00 per year, until the collective bargaining agreement no longer provides for such Employer contributions. You may request a list of the designated covered Social Service Titles by contacting the Plan Administrator.

Effective June 30, 2008, employees in the following designated covered titles are entitled to pro-rata daily allocation of Employer contributions generally equal to $1.295 for each Paid Working Day,, up to a maximum of $336.69 per year, until the collective bargaining agreement no longer provides for such Employer contributions:

• High Pressure Plant Tenders.

A Paid Working Day is measured as an ordinary working day for full-time per annum or per diem employees, seasonal employees, and school-based employees who work at the Board of Education on a 10-month or 12-month schedule. In the case of employees who work a compressed work week, a Paid Working Day is measured as the equivalent of a set of paid working hours which is equal to the daily number of hours that employees are regularly scheduled to work. For employees who work less than full time and for school-based employees who work part-time at the Board of Education, a Paid Working Day is measured as a prorated amount which is calculated against the number of hours associated with a full-time equivalent job title.

A Paid Working Day does not include: scheduled days off, paid overtime, and days in non-pay status. Scheduled days off include an employee's regular days off (such as weekends for a full-time employee working a Monday through Friday shift). In the case of school-based employees, scheduled days off do not include days that schools are closed during the school year on which an employee would otherwise be scheduled to work. Days in non-pay status include:

• time on preferred or recall lists,
• time on approved unpaid leave (including maternity/childcare, military, jury duty, family illness, union business pursuant to Executive Order 75 pending workers' compensation determination while on workers' compensation option 2, time off due to illness),
• absence without leave, unpaid suspensions, and
• unapproved leave without pay.

You may request a copy of the complete Plan by calling the Annuity Fund Plan at 212 815-1888.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Participant Account

 

Employer contributions payable pursuant to collective bargaining agreements are allocated to your Participant Account. The amount in your Participant Account represents an undivided interest in the Annuity Fund and reflects income gains or losses, appreciation and depreciation, and your allocable share of Annuity Fund expenses. You may roll over or transfer contributions from another tax-qualified plan or individual retirement account or annuity into this Plan, which will accumulate in a separate account under your name. You may not make contributions to the Annuity Fund.

The Annuity Fund and the Participant Accounts are valued on the last day of each calendar month (the "Valuation Date"). Under the valuation:

• All payments and distributions made from your Account since the last valuation date are charged against your Account,
• Your Account is adjusted in relation to the value of all other Accounts to reflect the fair market value of the Annuity Fund as of the Valuation Date (less contributions) and
  Your Account is increased by any allocation of Employer contributions for service for the period ending with the Valuation Date.

You are not entitled to an allocation of Contributions until contributions to the Annuity Fund are made by the Employer and received by the Annuity Fund. After the close of each Plan Year, you will receive an annual report regarding the status of your Account as of the last Valuation Date for that Plan Year.

You are entitled to receive benefits under the Plan upon your termination of employment which occurs due to retirement with the Employer, termination of employment with the Employer, or death. You must apply for benefits in writing on a form prescribed by the Trustees. Your Account is valued and is payable as follows:

• as soon as practicable after your application for benefits is received by the Annuity Fund Administrator – the District Council 37 Health & Security Plan staff – you will receive a distribution of the full value of your Account determined as of the Valuation Date that next follows the receipt of your application by the Annuity Fund Administrator, and
• as soon as practicable after the Valuation Date next following the date on which any contributions attributable to your service prior to your termination of employment are received by the Annuity Fund after the calendar month that you apply for a distribution, you will receive a distribution of those contributions, if any.

Upon termination of employment with an Employer, you may request a direct rollover of a distribution from your Account to another tax-qualified plan (that accepts rollovers) or an individual retirement account ("IRA") or annuity. If you choose to receive the distribution in cash, it is subject to 20% mandatory federal income tax withholding by the Annuity Fund (except to the extent of any required minimum distribution after age 70 ). There is no direct rollover or income tax withholding if your distribution for the year is reasonably expected to total less than $200.

You may leave your Account in the Annuity Fund when you terminate employment. You continue to be a Participant and your Account shares in the Fund's gains and losses and expenses, until payment of your Account occurs. Benefits under the Plan must be distributed no later than April 1 of the calendar year following the calendar year in which you attain age 70 , or the calendar year in which you terminate employment with an Employer, whichever occurs last.

If you terminate your employment with an Employer who has made, was required to make, or continues to make contributions to the Annuity Fund, but you continue to be employed by a governmental entity that is affiliated with the City of New York:

• you may receive a distribution of your benefits,
• you may defer receipt of your benefits while continuing to have your Account invested under the Plan, or
• you may request a trust-to-trust transfer of your Account to a tax-qualified plan maintained by the affiliated entity with whom you are employed.

 

Death Benefits

 

The Annuity Fund Administrator will provide you with a Beneficiary designation form. You should use it to designate the person who will receive all or any part of your benefits remaining in the event of your death before you terminate employment with an Employer or otherwise receive a full distribution of your benefits.

The benefits to a Beneficiary are determined and payable in the manner described above. You may change your Beneficiary designation at any time (subject to the provisions of a qualified domestic relations order). If you have designated your spouse as your Beneficiary and you subsequently divorce, your former spouse will continue to be your Beneficiary unless you change your Beneficiary designation or you remarry, in which case your spouse at the time of your death will be considered your designated Beneficiary. If no Beneficiary has been designated, or your Beneficiary predeceases you, your Beneficiary is the beneficiary you designated to receive death benefits from the District Council 37 Health & Security Plan, or absent such a designation, your surviving spouse, or if none, the administrator or executor of your estate.

 

 

Filing A Claim

 

If the Annuity Fund Administrator denies your application for benefits, you may file a claim with the Administrator stating why you believe that your application should have been granted. The Administrator will review the claim, and grant or deny the claim in writing within 90 days after the claim is received. If special circumstances require an extension of time, the Administrator will notify you before the expiration of the 90 days and will make a determination on your claim in no more than 180 days from the date of the original application for benefits is received.

In case of a denial of your claim for benefits, the specific reasons for the denial with references to the Plan provisions upon which the denial is based will be furnished to you in writing. The Administrator will also inform you of the materials or information, which, if provided, would allow you to perfect your claim for benefits. You will have 60 days after receiving notice of denial (or after receiving a grant of benefits with which you partially agree) to appeal the determination (thereafter, your right to appeal is revoked).

In pursuing an appeal, you or your representative may review pertinent documents and submit issues and comments in writing. The Annuity Fund Trustees will make a determination on your appeal in writing within 60 days after the filing of the appeal. If special circumstances require an extension of time, the Trustees will notify you before the expiration of the 60 days and will make a determination on your claim in no more than 120 days from the date you filed the appeal. If no determination is received within the prescribed time limits, it will constitute a denial of the claim on appeal.

 

Domestic Relations Order

The assets of the Annuity Fund and benefits under the Plan are not subject to transfer, assignment, garnishment, attachment, or judicial process to satisfy the claims of creditors, except to the extent of a qualified domestic relations order.

The Plan will recognize a domestic relations order which creates or recognizes the existence of an alternate payee's right to, or assigns to an alternate payee the right to, receive all or a portion of the benefits payable under the Plan with respect to a Participant. A domestic relations order is a judgment, decree or order which relates to a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent of a Participant, and which is made pursuant to a State domestic relations law. The Annuity Fund will provide rules for determining what orders will constitute qualified domestic relations orders.

 

Amendment or Termination

District Council 37 may amend the Plan at any time, and may merge or terminate the Plan and dissolve the Annuity Fund at any time. No transfer of assets or liabilities will occur unless each Participant in the Plan would receive a benefit immediately after the merger or transfer which is equal to or greater than the benefit he would have been entitled to receive immediately before the merger or transfer. No Plan amendment or termination will make it possible for any part of the assets of the Annuity Fund to be used for, or diverted to, purposes other than the exclusive benefit of the Participants and their beneficiaries.

 

Plan Administration

District Council 37 has appointed the Annuity Fund Trustees to oversee the operations of the Plan and Annuity Fund pursuant to the District Council 37 AFSCME Annuity Fund Declaration of Trust. The Annuity Fund Trustees have contracted with the District Council 37 Health & Security Plan to serve as the day-to-day Administrator of the Plan. You may contact the Annuity Fund Trustees at District Council 37, AFSCME, 125 Barclay Street, New York, NY 10007.

 

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