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Legal
Legal - Who's Eligible
Eligibility in Plan
Your
Legal Plan is financed by contributions made by employers
as specified in their Labor Agreements with Local 1547 or Special
Agreements with the Alaska Electrical Trust Funds. Some Agreements specify
that Legal contributions are paid as a monthly flat
rate (monthly contributions) and some specify that Legal contributions
are paid as an hourly rate (hourly contributions).
It
is your responsibility to check with your employer, the Administrative
Office, or Local 1547 to make certain that Legal contributions are being made for you by your employer.
To
be eligible for benefits from your Plan, you must have worked a
certain minimum number of hours in previous months and your employer
must have contributed and reported the hours for you to the Fund.
You will be eligible for the benefits of your Plan if you meet the
following
monthly contribution
eligibility rules or the
hourly contribution
eligibility rules.
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Eligibility - Monthly Contributions
As an eligible employee covered
by an agreement calling for a flat rate monthly contribution, you
will usually be covered on the first day of the calendar month following the
calendar month you worked the required number of hours (e.g., work during September provides
coverage for October).
Your coverage will usually terminate on the last day of the calendar month
following the calendar month in which you last worked (e.g., if
employment is terminated in June, coverage is provided through July
31). Review your collective bargaining or special agreement for
details.
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Initial Eligibility - Hourly
Contributions
You will be covered on the first day of the second calendar month
following accumulation of 360 or more work hours (reported and paid
to the Fund) within a consecutive three month period. Example:
The lag
month is necessary for the processing of reported hours by the
Trust Office.
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Continuing Coverage - Hourly
Contributions
When you
have met the initial eligibility requirements as stated above, your
coverage can be continued in two ways:
(A) By work hour credits – you
will be eligible and covered as long as you have 120 or more hours
in your Hour Bank account. 120 hours is deducted from your Hour Bank
account for each month you are covered. The lag month continuously
applies in computing your coverage by work hour credits.
(B) By self-payment – if you do
not have 120 hours in your Hour Bank account, you may self-pay to
maintain your coverage. Self-payments can be made for the eighteen
months following the last month you were eligible. (See self-payment
rules.)
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Bank of Hours - Hourly Contributions
All hours worked and reported
are credited to your Hour Bank account. 120 hours are required to
provide you with one month’s coverage. All hours worked in excess of
120 in any one month remain in your Hour Bank, which will
provide coverage during months of unemployment.
Example:
Hours
worked in month 160.0 The
40 hours remaining
LESS: coverage hours 120.0 are
in your Hour Bank
Remaining hours
40.0 for future coverage.
The maximum number of hours that
you can accumulate to your credit at any one time for coverage
purposes is 960 (which is equivalent to 8 months), after deduction for
the current month’s coverage.
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Dependent
Eligibility - Monthly and Hourly Contributions
Your dependents are eligible
when you are eligible. Generally, dependents are defined as your legal
spouse or your unmarried children less than nineteen (19) years of age,
provided they are not in the Armed Forces. Eligible children, in
addition to your natural children, include legally adopted children,
step-children or foster children or children for whom you have legal
guardianship. In order to be eligible, dependent children must
live with you and be chiefly dependent
on you for support and maintenance.
In additional, the following are eligible dependents:
- Unmarried
children who are attending school full-time are eligible
until their 24th birthday or the last day they are full
time students, whichever is earlier
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- Your children age nineteen (19) and over who are incapable of
self-sustaining employment because of mental retardation
or physical handicap. The incapability of the child must
have commenced prior to attaining the maximum age of
nineteen (19) and the child must have commenced prior to
attaining age nineteen (19) for a dependent child.
Coverage is not automatic; you must submit proof to the
Administrative Office at least 31 days prior to the
child’s attainment of age nineteen (19)
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Grandchildren and children of dependent children
will only be covered if you or your spouse has legal guardianship of
the children. This coverage is not automatic. You must
make specific application to the Fund.
NOTE: The Plan may request proof of dependent
status, such as a marriage certification for a spouse, a birth
certificate for a dependent child, or a school certification for a
dependent child between the ages of nineteen (19) and twenty-four
(24). A custody order or divorce decree ma be requested to
ascertain if a dependent is eligible under this Plan.
Your dependent's coverage will end on the last day
of the month following the earlier of : (i) the month in which the
dependent ceases to be eligible, or (ii) on the state of your
coverage terminates.
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