FAQs

To request a pension estimate, the request must be made in writing; it can be faxed or mailed to the Fund Office. In the request, please include your name, CPF ID (or SSN if you do not know your CPF ID), the date of retirement, and, if you are married, your spouse’s name and date of birth. Click here to fill out our Estimate Request Form.

No. Contributions made to this Fund by Participating Employers are only payable in the form of benefits to an eligible Retiree and/or Beneficiary.

Your record will be kept indefinitely by the Central Pension Fund. If you have 5 years of Vesting Service, have at least 1200 hours of Credited Future Service (1000 hours if your I.P.D. was January 1, 1982 or later) and at least one hour of service reported to the Fund on or after January 1, 1989 and prior to your 65th birthdate, you can apply for a benefit at your Normal Retirement Date.

If you have 10 years of Vested Service, have at least 1200 hours of Credited Future Service (1000 hours if your I.P.D. January 1, 1982 or later), you may apply for a benefit at your Early Retirement Date.

Your record will be kept by the Central Pension Fund. If you never work as an operating engineer again, you or your Beneficiary(s) may not have a right to any benefit and if so, the contributions made on your behalf will be forfeited and absorbed into the Trust.

Twice each year active and/or vested Participants will receive a Statement of Fund Record from the Central Pension Fund, provided you have kept us advised of your correct mailing address.

Write to the Central Pension Fund and request a copy of your record.

Write to the Central Pension Fund and tell us the following:

Your social security number, complete name and address
Name and address of the employer(s)
Locations of each job in question and local union jurisdictions
The approximate dates worked on each job
Number of hours worked on each job
Copies of your pay stubs, if available.

Write the Central Pension Fund and advise us:

Which Local Union’s jurisdiction you were working in
Number of hours worked
Dates worked
Names of your employers.
With this information we can contact the administrator of the other plan and advise you if you have service with that plan, which we can recognize for vesting purposes.

The maximum Credited Future Service in a calendar year is one (1.00) year

The contributions are immediately deposited into interest-bearing accounts. They remain there for a short period of time and are then transferred to the investment accounts of the Central Pension Fund. The contributions are invested in common stocks, bonds, real estate, and other investment vehicles as permitted under the Fund’s investment policies. All investments of the Fund are made on the basis of guidelines established by the Board of Trustees of the Central Pension Fund and are handled by independent professional investment managers.

Semi-annual statements are mailed directly to Participants for whom the Fund Office has an address. You should keep both the Fund Office and your Local Union office advised of any address changes.

You should find out whether you are going to be working for another Participating Employer. If so, your participation in the Central Pension Fund will continue. If you are unable to continue work for a Participating Employer, your previously earned credits will be maintained by the Fund Office; however, you will not earn additional credits until such a time as you return to work for a Participating Employer.

Your Accrued Benefit will be forfeited if you incur a Break In Service. For most participants this would only occur if you do not accrue the necessary years of Vesting Service, (5 years if you have hours reported to the Fund on or after January 1, 1989, otherwise, 10 years), prior to your 65th birthdate. A Break In Service occurs when the number of consecutive years during which no vesting service was earned equals or exceeds 5 or the number of prior years for which vesting service was earned. If you have a Vested Interest you cannot incur a Break In Service.

Your monthly benefit will be suspended if you return to work in disqualifying employment and exceed the provisions as described below.

Benefits may be suspended upon your request prior to age 70 1/2 only. After age 70 1/2 we must pay you your benefit.

After you have retired and except for the first month of your retirement, you can return to work in a job classification which is covered by the IUOE or in the job classification for which we received contributions for you and continue to receive your monthly benefit provided you do not work more than 40 hours in a calendar month.

You do not have a right to a monthly benefit for any month(s) in which you work more than 40 hours:

with an employer engaged in an industry in the organizing jurisdiction of the IUOE, in which Participants covered by the Plan were employed and earned benefits at the time of your retirement,
in a trade or craft for which you were employed at any time under the Plan, and
in the geographic area covered by the Plan at the time your retirement began.

Please note that for purposes of this rule, a trade or craft includes a related supervisory position.

You are not eligible to commence receiving retirement benefits if you continue to work for your last contributing employer regardless of your job classification.

Also, you are obligated to notify the Board of Trustees, in writing, of any post-retirement employment that exceeds 40 hours in a calendar month. If you do not, the Board may presume all your work is disqualifying employment, until you prove it is not.

No, there is no provision in the Plan of Benefits permitting or authorizing Participant loans or roll overs except in certain circumstances when a participant has died. For more details refer to Section 9 on page 33 of our Summary Plan Description.