Your Pension Plan Benefits
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Your Pension Plan Benefits New York and New England Component of the Verizon Pension Plan for Associates (7/17) Table of Contents Your Pension Plan Benefits .....................................................................1 Verizon Pension Plan for Associates ............................................................................ 1 About this SPD ............................................................................................................. 1 Contact information....................................................................................................... 2 Getting more information .............................................................................................. 3 Changes to the Plan ..................................................................................................... 4 Participation and Service .........................................................................5 Eligibility........................................................................................................................ 5 When participation begins ............................................................................................ 5 How service is counted................................................................................................. 6 How your benefit is determined.............................................................13 Basic benefit formula .................................................................................................. 13 Pension band basic monthly benefit ........................................................................... 13 Pension promotion and pension demotion.................................................................. 15 Your supplemental benefit .......................................................................................... 15 An example: normal retirement benefit ....................................................................... 16 2001 incentive benefit................................................................................................. 17 Minimum pension benefits .......................................................................................... 18 Special situations that can affect your benefit calculation........................................... 18 Receiving your benefit ...........................................................................21 Service pension eligibility............................................................................................ 21 Early retirement with a service pension ...................................................................... 21 Example: service pension retirement benefit .............................................................. 21 Normal retirement or later........................................................................................... 22 If you leave before retirement ..................................................................................... 24 Payment options.....................................................................................30 Standard payment options.......................................................................................... 30 Optional methods of payment..................................................................................... 30 Paying taxes on your pension benefit ......................................................................... 35 Applying for benefits ................................................................................................... 35 Benefits for survivors.............................................................................37 Preretirement survivor death benefit........................................................................... 37 Sickness death benefit................................................................................................ 41 Accident death benefit ................................................................................................ 43 Other information on death benefits............................................................................ 43 If you are a retiree, former vested participant or beneficiary .............44 i Your benefit amount ................................................................................................... 44 Receiving your benefit ................................................................................................ 45 Additional information............................................................................46 Assignment of benefits ............................................................................................... 46 Maximum benefit levels .............................................................................................. 46 How benefits could be reduced, lost, suspended or delayed..................................... 46 If the Plan becomes top-heavy ................................................................................... 48 If the Plan is terminated .............................................................................................. 48 Mergers, consolidations or transfers........................................................................... 49 Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation ....................................................................... 49 Pension service credit during the 2016 strike ............................................................. 50 Claims and appeals procedures ................................................................................. 50 Your rights under ERISA ............................................................................................ 55 Administrative Information .......................................................................................... 56 Claims and appeals administrators............................................................................. 57 Participating companies.............................................................................................. 58 Glossary ..................................................................................................59 ii Your Pension Plan Benefits The New York and New England Associate component of the Verizon Pension Plan for Associates (the “Plan”) is designed to provide you with a financial resource for your retirement. Combined with your Social Security benefit and your retirement savings, the Plan can help provide the security of a steady source of income for your retirement years. In general, the longer you work as an eligible associate, the higher the benefit you can receive based on your pension band and the length of your service. Verizon pays the entire cost of providing your pension benefits from the Plan. The participating companies make contributions to a trust fund. There’s no cost to you. Verizon Pension Plan for Associates Effective November 9, 2010, the Verizon Pension Plan for New York and New England Associates (“New York and New England Plan”) was merged with and into the Plan. The New York and New England Plan is maintained as a component plan within the Plan, which means the underlying benefit calculations for participants are not affected by the merger of the plans. All accrued benefits and forms of benefit distribution are preserved as applicable under each component of the merged plan. About this SPD This document is the summary plan description (“SPD”) for the New York and New England Plan component of the Verizon Pension Plan for Associates, a defined benefit pension plan subject to federal law under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and its subsequent amendments. This document meets ERISA’s requirements for an SPD and is based on Plan provisions effective July 1, 2017 (including amendments through December 31, 2016) for eligible associates employed on or after that date. It updates and replaces all previous SPDs and other descriptions of the Verizon Pension Plan for New York and New England Associates. Keep it on hand, and refer to it when you have questions. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information included in this SPD, which is based on the Plan document. If, however, there is a discrepancy between the information contained in this SPD and the official Plan document, the Plan document will govern. Copies of Plan documents are available by contacting the Plan administrator in writing at the address provided in the “Additional information” section. References in this SPD to “Verizon”, “Verizon affiliate” or “Affiliate Company” refer to companies that are at least 80% owned by Verizon Communications Inc. References in this SPD to “the company” refer to the plan sponsor and/or other Verizon companies that co-sponsor the Plan. This SPD is divided into the following major sections: Participation and service. This section describes when your participation begins and how service is counted. How your benefit is determined. Here you’ll learn how much you can expect to receive. Receiving your benefit. This section explains when you can start receiving your benefit. Payment options. You have choices available in the form of payment you receive. This section describes your choices. 1 Benefits for survivors. If you die, your survivors may be eligible to receive a benefit from the Plan. Additional information. This section provides additional details about the administrative provisions of the Plan and your legal rights. Glossary. Certain terms used