Health and Welfare Summary Plan Description

• Health and Welfare SPD / Article III / Employee Eligibility >>

3.1 Hour Bank

1. General Rules. When you begin work in Covered Employment, the Plan will begin to maintain an Hour Bank on your behalf which will be credited (increased) for each hour of Covered Employment you earn, and for which contributions are actually paid to the Plan's trust, based upon the contribution rate of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. An hour of Covered Employment worked in a particular calendar month will be credited on the first day of the second succeeding month in which the month was worked; for example, hours worked in June will be credited effective the following August 1. (See also Section 2.5.) Your Hour Bank may build up to a maximum of 1,000 hours, and any hour to be credited that would cause your Hour Bank balance to exceed 1,000 will not be credited. For each month that you are provided coverage under Sections 3.2 and 3.3, your Hour Bank will be charged (reduced) by 120 hours. You may not purchase Hour Bank credits by making individual contributions to the Plan. The Hour Banks are not individual bank accounts; they contain no money, have no monetary value, and are entirely subject to the provisions of the Plan.
   
   
2. Adjustment for Nonstandard Contribution Rate. If your Employer's contribution rate is different from the Collective Bargaining Agreement contribution rate, the credit to your Hour Bank under subsection (a) may be multiplied by a percentage that results from dividing your Employer's contribution rate by the Collective Bargaining Agreement contribution rate, and then adjusted further for differences in work week or benefit level.
   
   
3. Cancelation of Hour Bank Balance
   1. Inactivity. If 12 consecutive months pass without having earned any Covered Employment, the balance in your Hour Bank will be canceled. Any future participation in the Plan as a covered Employee will require you to reestablish eligibility under Section 3.2.
   2. Employment with a Noncontributing Employer. If you become employed by an employer in the electrical industry that contributes to no IBEW-sponsored health and welfare plan (including, for example, an Employer that ceases to be obligated under a Contribution Agreement), the balance in your Hour Bank will be immediately canceled.
4. Reduction or Elimination of Hour Bank Balance by Board Action. The existence of an Hour Bank balance reflects your right to receive future coverage under the Plan's existing terms. Because the Board may, in its sole discretion, reduce, extend or terminate your Hour Bank at any time by written notice to you, your Hour Bank balance provides no vested right to future coverage under the Plan.