(Effective as of January 1, 1992, as amended effective July 10, 2002)
It is the policy of the Trustees of the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust Fund (“Trust Fund”) not to accept Pension Agreements providing for PEER, which are deemed to be detrimental to the Trust Fund. The determination of whether or not a Pension Agreement providing for PEER is detrimental to the Trust Fund shall be made by the Trustees in their sole discretion. The following should be considered as minimum conditions (must be met):
1. PEER/84 participation must commence after March 31, 1991, and prior to December 31, 1997. That deadline will be waived subject to the following conditions:
- a. If the effective date of PEER/84 participation is before January 1, 1999, no Covered Hours earned during the 12-month period beginning on such effective date will be recognized as PEER Covered Hours for any purpose under the Plan.
- b. If the effective date of PEER/84 participation is after December 31, 1998, no Covered Hours earned during the 24-month period beginning on such effective date will be recognized as PEER Covered Hours for any purpose under the Plan.
- c. These non-recognition provisions shall override the provisions of Article 20.50 of the Pension Plan governing what qualified as a PEER Covered Hour.
- d. The procedures to be used in connection with the administration of those deadline waiver provisions (hereinafter the “Late PEER/84 Adoption Rule”) are described in paragraph 14, below.
- PEER/82 participation must commence after July 31, 1993 and prior to December 31, 1999.
- PEER/80 participation must commence after July 31, 1994 and prior to December 31, 2000.
- New bargaining units entering the Plan after July 31, 1991 must establish their level of PEER within six years of entry or prior to December 31, 1997, whichever is later.
2. The Pension Agreement must specifically state that contributions are required for each level of PEER participation. PEER participation is separate and in addition to participation in the basic Plan.
3. Participation requirements and the method of calculating the PEER contributions must be on the same basis as the basic Plan contributions. Contributions are required on the same types of hours worked or hours compensated and, if applicable, the same daily, weekly, or monthly maximums.
4. The contribution rate for PEER/84 must be exactly 6.5% of the basic Plan contribution rate.
- The contribution rate for PEER/82 must be exactly 11.5% of the basic Plan contribution rate.
- The contribution rate for PEER/80 must be exactly 16.5% of the basic Plan contribution rate.
- All PEER contribution rates must be rounded to the nearest cent. The minimum PEER contribution is one cent ($0.01).
5. PEER contribution rates shall simultaneously increase as the basic Plan contribution rate increases.
6. A bargaining unit may not reduce its level of PEER participation; e.g., PEER/80 to PEER/82.
7. If a bargaining unit ceases participation in PEER, such unit may not continue to participate in the basic Plan.
8. Contribution rate increases already in effect may not be converted to fund PEER contributions.
9. Pension Agreements subject to the Trustees Policy with regard to the Food Processing Industry must provide for the same PEER level for both regular and seasonal employees.
10. The Trust will not accept a Pension Agreement which provides PEER contributions for some, but not all, job classifications that are covered by a single Pension Agreement. A Pension Agreement will not be acceptable if it provides different PEER levels for different job classifications under a single Agreement.
11. Job classifications may not be excluded from an existing Pension Agreement and included in a separate Pension Agreement subsequent to April 1, 1991, whereby PEER contributions are provided for in either Pension Agreement unless creation of such a separate Pension Agreement would have been permitted under Trust rules and regulations prior to April 1, 1991.
12. The Trust Fund will not accept a Pension Agreement providing for initial PEER participation if the Employer at that time is a debtor in a bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding, or if the Employer has announced its intention to either close or sell its location covered by the Agreement. This condition as it pertains to an Employer closing or selling its location does not apply if the Employer continues to make contributions to the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust on behalf of employees at one or more other locations. Neither does it apply if there is a successor Employer that enters into a Pension Agreement that includes PEER.
13. The Trust Fund will not accept a renewed, extended or successor Pension Agreement providing for initial PEER participa- tion if the renewed, extended or successor Agreement is for a term of less than one year. The maximum period for PEER retroactivity under an existing Agreement is six (6) months.
14. The following procedures will be used in connection with the administration of the “Late PEER/84 Adoption Rule”:
- a. Only the Chairman and Co-Chairman/Secretary, acting jointly, or the Administrative Manager, shall have the authority to accept an agreement as a PEER/84 Pension Agreement under the Late PEER/84 Adoption Rule.
- b. Before an agreement is accepted as a PEER/84 Pension Agreement under the Late PEER/84 Adoption Rule, each Employer and each Union that is a party to such agreement must agree in writing to the conditions set forth in the Late PEER/84 Adoption Rule; in addition they each must agree to comply with the posting requirements set forth in subparagraph d below and each Employer must agree to comply with the mailing address requirement set forth in subparagraph c below.
- c. In a time and manner specified by the Administrative Manager, each Employer shall provide the Trust Fund with the last known mailing address of each individual the Employer has reported as having earned any Covered Hours under the Agreement during the period beginning 12 months before the PEER/84 effective date and ending on a date specified by the Administrative Manager which shall be no earlier than three months before the date the agreement is accepted as a PEER/84 Pension Agreement.
- d. Promptly upon acceptance of an agreement as a PEER/84 Agreement under the Late PEER/84 Adoption Rule, the Administrative Manager shall cause an explanation of the 12- or 24-month non-recognition provision of the Late PEER/84 Adoption Rule to be mailed by first class mail to each individual reported by the Employer as having earned any Covered Hours under the agreement during the period specified in subparagraph c. This mailing requirement shall not apply to any individual for whom the Trust does not have a mailing address on file, or where the mailing address on file is known by the Trust to be invalid. The Administrative Manager shall provide copies of the explanation to the Employer and the Union with directions that they shall promptly post copies at all locations where notices to employees covered by the agreement regarding labor-management relations matters are customarily posted.
15. For the sole purpose of applying the provisions of this Trustee Policy and the provisions of the Pension Plan governing PEER Pension Agreements and no other purpose, the following rules apply:
- a. If two or more separate and distinct bargaining units or other units of employees that previously were covered under separate Pension Agreements become covered by a single Pension Agreement, the Trustees, in their discretion, may treat some or all of those units as if they continued to be covered by separate Pension Agreements, provided the require- ments of paragraph c are met.
- b. If one or more separate and distinct new bargaining units or other units of employees never before covered under the Plan become covered under a Pension Agreement that already covers one or more separate and distinct bargaining units or other units of employees, the Trustees, in their discretion, may treat some or all of those new units as if they continued to be covered by separate Pension Agreements, provided the requirements of paragraph c are met.
- c. The requirements of this paragraph are not met unless the Trustees determine in their sole and absolute discretion that the job classifications in each unit are substantially different from the job classifications in every other unit covered by the Pension Agreement. For this purpose, the principles and interpretations the Trustees apply in implementing Guideline No. 8 of the Trustee Policy on Acceptance of Employer Contributions will be used.
- d. What constitutes a separate and distinct bargaining unit or other unit of employees for purposes of these provisions shall be determined by the Trustees in their sole and absolute discretion.
- e. If a unit is considered as covered by a separate Pension Agreement under paragraph a or paragraph b, all of the provisions of this Trustee Policy, and all of the provisions of the Pension Plan governing PEER, shall apply separately to that unit. For example, the deadlines for that unit to begin a particular PEER level will be determined separately from the deadlines that apply to any other unit actually covered under the same Pension Agreement.
- f. The Trustees will not apply the provisions of this Section 15 to render unacceptable a Pension Agreement the terms of which otherwise would be considered acceptable under this Trustee Policy in the absence of this Section 15.
- g. The Trustees in their sole and absolute discretion may limit the time period during which the special rules of paragraph a or paragraph b will apply and may set such other terms and conditions on the application of these special rules in a particular case as they may deem necessary or appropriate to protect the Plan from adverse selection or other detriment.