If you terminate employment and you have a vested retirement benefit that you are not eligible to receive until later, that information will be reported by your plan to the Internal Revenue Service, which, in turn, will inform the Social Security Administration (SSA). This information must also be provided to you by the plan. The Social Security Administration will tell you, upon request, whether you were reported as having a deferred vested benefit under any plan. For information about making these requests, call 1.800.772.1213 (toll-free). SSA will automatically give you this information when you apply for social security benefits. Nevertheless, it is in your interest to keep the plan administrator informed about any change of address or name change after you leave employment to assure that you will receive the retirement benefit due to you.

Benefit Accrual And Vesting

This section describes ERISA's rules for eligibility, benefit accrual and vesting. It addresses the following questions:

• What age and service requirements may a plan impose on eligibility?
• What are accrued benefits?
• What is vesting?
• How long may it take to become vested?

Will you receive any benefits from your retirement plan if you leave employment before becoming vested?

Earning Service Credit

ERISA establishes rules for how employers must measure employees' employment service to determine how the eligibility, benefit accrual and vesting rules apply. ERISA generally defines a year of service as 1,000 hours of service during a 12-month period. Different rules apply to counting service for purposes of eligibility, benefit accrual and vesting.

A plan basically has a choice among three methods for determining whether you must be credited with a year of service for participation, vesting and, in some circumstances, benefit accrual: the general method of counting service, a simplified equivalency method, or the elapsed time method. Refer to your summary plan description to see which method is used by your plan.