ARTICLE 10

RETIREMENT PLAN

 

Section 10.1  Continuation of Plan.

Subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and of other cognizant governmental authorities, as more particularly hereinafter specified, and to the provisions of Section 10.5, a retirement plan (hereinafter called the Plan) in the form now in effect as to the employees within the units to which this Agreement relates shall continue to be effective while this Agreement is in effect as to such employees in accordance with and subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of the Plan.

 

Section 10.2  Approval of Plan.

Approval of the Plan by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue as referred to in Section 10.1 means a continuing approval sufficient to establish that the Plan and related trust or trusts are at all times qualified and exempt from income tax under Section 401(a) and other applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of l986, and that contributions made by the Company under the Plan are deductible for income tax purposes in accordance with law.  The cognizant governmental authorities referred to in Section 10.1 include, without limitation, the Department of Labor, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and their approval means their confirmation with respect to any matter within their regulatory authority that the Plan does not conflict with applicable law.

 

Section 10.3  Continuation Beyond Agreement.

The Company shall not be precluded from continuing the Plan in effect as to employees within the units to which this Agreement relates, after expiration or termination of this Agreement, subject to the terms, conditions, and limitations of the Plan.

 

Section 10.4  Grievances as to the Plan.

Only questions concerning the amount of Credited Service under the Plan that an employee has accumulated by reason of employment after the effective date of the Plan shall be subject to the grievance procedure of Article l9 of this Agreement.

 

Section 10.5  Changes to the Current Plan.

Subject to action by the Company's Board of Directors and to the approvals specified in Section 10.2, all provisions of The Boeing Company Employee Retirement Plan are to remain unchanged with the exception of the following amendments: 

 

NOTE – The language below including the Alternate benefit formula through 10.6 remains unchanged from previous contract. Below was an attempt to include the language of the plan documents into the contract, which obviously the company rejected. Therefore it is lined out but is still a part of the Summary Plan Documents.

 

Here is a link to the Summary Plan Documents http://active.boeing.com/companyoffices/empinfo/benefits/retirement/retire.cfm?goto=union&page=emp2

10.5(a)  Hours of Service Basic Benefit.   The Basic Benefit will be increased to $58.00 per month for all years of credited service for employees on the active payroll of the Company on or after January 1, 2003 (including those who retire from the employ of the Company on January 1, 2003).

 

10.5(b)  Expense Payments Basic Benefit.  Fees and expenses associated with the investment of fund assets, plan administration, and trustee fees shall be payable out of the trust. The Basic Benefit will be increased to $59.00 per month for all years of credited service for employees on the active payroll of the Company on or after January 1, 2004 (including all those who retire from the employ of the Company on January 1, 2004).

 

10.5(c)  Crediting Eligibility Service Basic Benefit.  Employees on the active payroll of the Company on or after January 1, 2000, who complete their year of eligibility service (usually the first year of employment) and become Participants of the Plan will receive Credited Service for the year of eligibility service immediately after becoming a Plan Participant. The Basic Benefit will be increased to $60.00 per month for all years of credited service for employees on the active payroll of the Company on or after January 1, 2005 (including all those who retire from the employ of the Company on January 1, 2005).

 

10.5(d)  The Retirement Income Leveling Option Effective Date of Amendments.  The amount payable under the retirement income leveling option will be $700/month for all employees who elect the option. The amendment set forth in Section 10.5(a) will take effect January 1, 2003, and will apply to Plan Participants on the active payroll, layoff, or leave of absence from the Company on or after January 1, 2003, including employees who retire effective January 1, 2003. The amendment set forth in Section 10.5(b) will take effect January 1, 2004, and will apply to Plan Participants on the active payroll, layoff, or leave of absence from the Company on or after January 1, 2004, including employees who retire effective January 1, 2004.  The amendment set for in Section 10.5(c) will take effect on January 1, 2005, and will apply to Plan Participants on the active payroll, layoff, or leave of absence from the Company on or after January 1, 2005, including employees who retire effective January 1, 2005.

 

 

 

10.5(e)  Six-Year Bridge for Laid Off Employees.  Laid off employees will no longer have to maintain active layoff status in order to remain eligible for the Plan’s layoff provisions. 

 

10.5(f)  Early Retirement Reduction for Vested Former Employees.  Early retirement reduction factors used for former employees with vested benefits will be based on age in completed months instead of age in completed quarters.

 

10.5(g)  Deferral of Retirement Benefits.  Employees who terminate employment while eligible for early retirement may elect to defer commencement of their benefit until age 65.

 

10.5(h)  Pre-Retirement Survivor Benefit.  The charge for providing a surviving spouse benefit to former employees who have a vested benefit and who have not yet retired will be eliminated.  This amendment will apply to all Plan Participants who have not yet commenced benefits as of January 1, 2000.

 

10.5(i)) Ten-Year Certain and Life Option.  Employees may elect a ten (10)-year certain and life option where benefits are paid for the employee’s lifetime, and are guaranteed to continue for ten (10) years after the employee’s retirement date, even if the retiree dies within ten (10) years of retirement.  The benefit will be reduced to reflect the cost of the option.

 

10.5(j)  Basic Benefit.   

 

10.5(n)  Alternate Benefit Formula.  The alternate benefit formula consists of the core benefit and the excess benefit.  These benefits include your

(1)Final average earnings

(2)(1)Years of credited service

(3)(1)Social Security covered compensation.

Final average earnings are based on your basic annual compensation, which is your annual rate of pay on the first day of each calendar month that you are on the active payroll.  Final average earnings do not include overtime, shift differential, cost of living, or other payments that are in addition to your hourly rate or base salary.

 

Your final average earnings will be the highest average rate over any period of sixty (60) consecutive months during your last one hundred twenty (120) months of service.  If you have fewer than sixty (60) months of service, your final average earnings will be based on your actual months of service.

 

Final average earnings also include awards under the Lump Sum Payment Plan (previously known as the Productivity Payment Plan) during the five (5) years before retirement.  However, other lump sum payments such as bonuses, incentive awards, lump-sum merit pay, and other special award payments are not included.

 

10.5(o)  Core Benefit.  Your core benefit is determined by multiplying the core percentage (1.025 percent) by your final average earnings.  This amount is then multiplied by your years of credited service.

 

10.5(q)  Disability Retirement.  You qualify for disability retirement benefits if you become permanently and totally disabled while an active employee of the Company or while on an approved leave of absence.  The Plan will pay disability retirement benefits if you meet all of the following conditions after you are age 50 but before you reach age 65:

(1)You have completed six (6) consecutive months of absence for medical reasons. (A return to active employment for fewer than thirty (30) calendar days will not interrupt this period.)

(2)(1)You have received a Social Security Award Certificate for a disability benefit under the Social Security Act.

(3)(1)You were at least age 50 when the disability occurred.

(4)(1)You have ten (10) or more years of vesting service in the Plan.

(5)(1)You formally apply for disability retirement by submitting the Commencement Election form to the Boeing Pension Service Center.

You should contact the Boeing Pension Service Center to ask about disability retirement benefits under the Plan at the same time you apply to the Social Security Administration for disability benefits.

 

If Social Security disability payments are discontinued before your 65th birthday, your Plan disability payments will stop.  You are required to notify the Boeing Pension Service Center of this development.

 

Disability retirement payments consist of benefits earned up to the time of disability.  Benefits are not reduced because of your age.  Normal reductions will be made, however, for benefits paid under the surviving spouse option.

 

If you satisfy the requirements for early retirement and have filed for Social Security disability benefits, you may begin receiving early retirement benefits under the Plan.  If a Social Security disability award subsequently is granted, your early retirement benefits may be converted to disability retirement benefits under the Plan.  That is, the early retirement age reduction may be removed, retroactive to the date you first met the conditions of entitlement for disability benefits.

 

10.5(r)  If you Leave Before Retirement.  If you stop working for the Company before you become eligible to retire, but after you become vested, you may claim the vested benefits you have earned once you reach normal retirement age.  You may select from the same payment options that would be available to you if you were retiring from active employment.  The Boeing Pension Service Center must receive your completed Commencement Election form before your intended benefit commencement date.

 

You may claim vested benefits before normal retirement (age 65), but the benefits will be reduced by six percent for each year before age 65 to account for the longer time over which they may be paid.  This reduction for early retirement is substantially greater than the reduction applied to benefits of active employees retiring from the Company.  To have vested benefits begin before age 62, you must satisfy at least one of the conditions required for early retirement.  The surviving spouse payment reductions also are greater for a vested former employee.  For more information regarding these reductions, contact the Boeing Pension Service Center.  Because important information about the Plan and your vested benefits may be mailed to you from time to time, you are encouraged to notify the Company whenever your address changes even though you may not yet be receiving benefits.

 

10.5(s)  If You Die While an Active Vested Employee.  If you are an active vested employee and die before age 55, your spouse’s benefits will be calculated as if you had terminated your employment and elected to receive a 50 percent surviving spouse option.  This means that your spouse’s benefits will be reduced by early retirement reduction factors and the 50 percent surviving spouse option that apply to vested former employees.  Benefits will become payable to your spouse on the first day of the month that coincides with or immediately follows the date you would have reached age 55.  Your spouse may elect to begin receiving benefit payments earlier or to deter payments until the date you would have reached age 65.  If payments begin before you would have reached age 55, the payment amount will be reduced to reflect the longer payment period.

 

If you are an active vested employee and die at or after age 55, your spouse’s benefits will be calculated as if you had terminated your employment and elected to receive a one hundred (100) percent surviving spouse option.  This means your spouse’s benefits will be reduced by the factors that apply to active employees and the one hundred (100) percent surviving spouse option conversion factor.  Payments begin as of the first day of the month following your death, or your spouse may elect to defer payments until the date you would have reached age 65.

 

10.5(t) Postretirement Death Benefit.  If you retire from the Plan, your beneficiary is eligible to receive a $2,000 death benefit under the Plan.  The benefit will be paid as a single lump sum following your death to the person you designate as your beneficiary on the Commencement Election form provided by the Boeing Pension Service Center.  If you do not designate a beneficiary, the benefit will be paid to your spouse, if surviving, or to your estate, in that order.

 

The postretirement death benefit is in addition to benefits continued under applicable surviving spouse payment method, if any.  Vested former employees and employees who were not represented by a union that accepted the Plan when they retired are not eligible for the postretirement death benefit.

 

10.5(k)(u)  Effective Date of Amendments.  The amendments set forth in this Section 10.5 will take effect January 1, 2000, and will apply to Plan Participants on the active payroll, layoff, or leave of absence from the Company on or after January 1, 2000, including employees who retire effective January 1, 2000.

 

Section 10.6  Joint Retirement Plan Advisory Committee.

A joint Retirement Plan Advisory Committee shall be established and shall consist of two representatives appointed in writing by the Union and two representatives appointed in writing by the Company The chairmanship of this Committee shall be rotated annually between the Union and the Company representatives.  The secretary shall be chosen from the opposite group to the chairman and shall keep minutes of all meetings.  The duties of the Retirement Plan Advisory Committee shall be to review those questions of fact which are referred to it  and   which are involved in the administration of the Plan as it applies to employees represented by the Union The Committee shall submit its findings and recommendations on each such question to the Retirement Committee referred to in Article XIII of the Plan.

Section 10.6  Joint Retirement Plan Advisory Committee.

A joint Retirement Plan Advisory Committee shall be established and shall consist of two (2) representatives appointed in writing by the Union and two (2) representatives appointed in writing by the Company.  The chairmanship of this Committee shall be rotated annually between the Union and the Company representatives.  The secretary shall be chosen from the opposite group by the chairman and shall keep minutes of all meetings.  The duties of the Retirement Plan Advisory Committee shall be to review those questions of fact which are referred to it and which are involved in the administration of the Plan as it applies to employees represented by the Union.  The Committee shall submit its findings and recommendations on each such question to the Retirement Committee referred to in Article XIII of the Plan.

Section 10.6  Administration of the Retirement Plan. 

The Company shall have the right to unilaterally make any changes in actuarial assumptions and funding methods, provided such changes are determined by the Plans enrolled actuary to be reasonable in the aggregate.  The Company shall be entitled to unilaterally adopt such amendments to the Plan as may be required in order to obtain any approval referred to in Section 10.1 and described in Section 10.2 of the Agreement.

 

Section 10.7  Retirement Benefits for Employees in the Portland Unit.

The Company will continue to pay twenty-five cents (25¢) into Western Metal Industry Pension Fund for each compensable hour worked by each employee in the Portland Unit.  In addition, effective January 1, 1981, such employees will also become participants under The Boeing Company Employee Retirement Plan as follows:

 

10.7(a)  Employees to Whom the Boeing Plan Applies.  Each employee who was employed by the Company on June 29, 1974, and remains in the employ of the Company on and after January 1, 1981, shall become a Plan participant as of June 29, 1974.  Each other employee who was employed by the Company after June 29, 1974, and remains in the employ of the Company on and after January 1, 1981, shall become a Plan participant upon completion of one (1) year of eligibility service following such date of employment with the Company.  All other employees who are employed by the Company on or after January 1, 1981, shall become participants in the Plan upon completion of one (1) year of eligibility service, or upon becoming an eligible employee, if later.

 

10.7(b)  Credited Service.  Plan participants will accrue Credited Service commencing on the date they became Plan participants in accordance with Section 10.7(a).

 

10.7(c)  Eligibility for Retirement Income.  Eligibility for retirement income will be based on the provisions of the Plan.

 

10.7(d)  Amount of Retirement Income.  The retirement amount of a participant at any time shall be the benefit payable under the provisions of The Boeing Company Employee Retirement Plan reduced by any accrued benefit payable from the Western Metal Industry Pension Fund on account of service with The Boeing Company.

 

10.7(e)  Other Provisions of the Plan.  With the exception of the foregoing language of Section 10.7, all other provisions of The Boeing Company Employee Retirement Plan will apply.