If you die while you are still employed and you have completed at least five years of Company Service, the plan will pay a survivor.  The timing and amount of this benefit will depend on your years of Company Service when you die.

If you die after completing 10 years of Company Service, the survivor benefit is payable immediately.  (The age 50 requirement for early retirement does not apply in determining eligibility for the survivor bene­fit.) The benefit is a monthly income equal to 50% of the pension you would have received if you had retired on the day of your death.  If your survivor is a younger spouse, the benefit will be reduced 1/2% for each full year more than five years that your spouse is younger than you.  However, in no event will the survivor benefit be reduced to less than 25% of your full pension, calculated using your average earnings and service at your death.

If you die before completing 10 years of Company Service (but after five years), the survivor benefit is payable the first day of the month following the day you would have reached age 65.  The benefit is a monthly income equal to 50% of the benefit you would have received had you terminated employment on the day of your death, and elected to receive your benefit at age 65 in the 50% joint and survivor form of payment.

Your survivor can elect to receive reduced benefits as early as the date you would have reached age 50.  The reduction will be 6 2/3% for each year before age 65, for up to three years (to age 62), plus 5% for each year before age 62 that benefits begin.

The benefit will be paid to your spouse for the rest of his or her life.  If you are employed and not married when you die, the benefit will be paid in equal shares to your dependent children until age 23 (or as long as a child remains totally and permanently disabled).

And if you have no dependent children, then the benefit will be paid in equal shares to your depend­ent parents for life.

The terms “Dependent Child” and “Dependent Parent” are defined in the Glossary.

Any benefit being paid to a dependent child or dependent parent cannot be transferred to someone else when the child or parent no longer qualifies for it.  However, if a spouse dies while receiving the survivor benefit, the spouse’s benefit will continue in equal shares to any of your dependent children under age 23 (or as long as a child remains totally and permanently disabled).