Call NRECA Early if You Are Considering Pension Plan Changes

Are you considering adding Roth contributions to your 401(k) Pension Plan? Is your cooperative thinking about revising eligibility or benefit levels in the Retirement Security (RS) Plan? To receive quality guidance and accurate plan changes, please contact your NRECA field representative as soon as possible to discuss any modifications you wish to make to your NRECA retirement programs.

Making changes to your retirement programs must be a careful and deliberate process. It typically involves a review of your objectives, document preparation, board approval and execution, and a legal review completed by NRECA to ensure amendments are properly implemented. Some plan changes also require customized benefit illustrations and necessary participant notices prior to the effective date of the change.

Sample Timeline
Since the first of the year is a common time to amend benefit plans, the following is an example of a timeline for executing a simple plan change for January 1, 2015. Complex plan changes or those involving RS Plan proposals may require additional time.

October
Step 1: Co-op contacts its field representative to evaluate objectives. Preliminary proposals, if necessary, are produced for co-op consideration. Once the plan change is clearly defined, it is reviewed and NRECA provides guidance on the impact of the change.

November
Step 2: NRECA produces and delivers new plan adoption agreements/addendums, a sample board resolution, and additional required notices, if applicable.

Step 3: The co-op executes adoption agreements/addendums and board resolution at least 30 days before the effective date.

Note that when participant benefits are reduced, ERISA 204(h) notices may be required as much as 45 days prior to the change. In those cases, the co-op executes adoption agreements/addendums and board resolution at least 60 days before the effective date.

December
Step 4: Signed plan adoption agreements/addendums and board resolution returned to NRECA by December 1, 2014. NRECA conducts final legal/compliance review, approves the documents and makes any administrative accommodations necessary to implement the change.

If you are considering a Special Early Retirement Plan (SERP) for calendar year 2014, please contact your field representative prior to October 10, 2014. Because SERPs cannot cross over calendar years, proposals, board action, employee communications and the start of the window period all need to occur by November 15, 2014. Fully adopting a SERP is typically a three-month process. SERPs started later in October may need to be deferred to the first quarter of 2015 depending on the circumstances within the SERP.

NRECA Is Here to Help
Plan changes can be a necessary part of providing competitive benefits to your employees and NRECA is here to support you. To serve you best and allow time for proper review of your plan changes, it is important that you contact your NRECA field representative early to begin discussion about your specific needs.

If you need additional assistance, call the NRECA Member Contact Center at 866.673.2299 or email them at contactcenter@nreca.coop.