| Print | Close Window | AMO Currents - Posted: September 16, 2010 |
AMO Pension Plan to begin mailing lump-sum earned benefit estimates
The Plan expects to begin mailing the statements on October 1, AMO Plans Executive Director Steve Nickerson said.
"Once the AMO Pension Plan is healthy enough to meet all of its obligations, Plan participants eligible to retire will have two options - they could retire and receive their earned benefits as annuities providing monthly income, or they could roll the lump-sum values of their earned benefits into their personal retirement savings accounts under the forthcoming AMO Defined Contribution Plan and continue working," Nickerson explained. "These statements will help them make the decisions that are right for them under their specific individual circumstances."
All deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters AMO members and applicants will begin earning benefits from the employer-paid AMO Defined Contribution Plan on January 1, 2011.
"There may be some delay in distributing these statements in cases where earned benefits are offset by benefits earned under another pension plan because these specific benefit calculations are especially complex," Nickerson said. "But I am confident that most AMO Pension Plan participants will receive their lump-sum value statements by the end of October.
"Getting the defined benefit AMO Pension Plan fully funded as quickly as possible so that Plan participants can choose between monthly benefits and a lump-sum rollover at that point is a principal element of the rehabilitation plan the AMO Pension Plan trustees put in place last October 1 in compliance with the Pension Protection Act of 2006," Nickerson concluded.
The rehabilitation plan was required when the AMO Pension Plan entered "critical" funding status as defined by the federal law.
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