Welfare Plan Information
To All Plan Participants:
We are pleased to provide you with this updated Summary Plan Description benefit. It includes important information about your eligibility and benefits, including all the changes made since the last Plan update.
Please read the information in this section of the site carefully (have your spouse read it, too) so that you will know what benefits are available for you and your dependents. You should also become familiar with the “What the Plan Does Not Cover” section so that you will know what is not covered by the Plan.
We believe that this is an excellent program of health and welfare benefits. We will continue to do everything possible to maintain these benefits and to improve upon them when the financial condition of the Fund justifies such an action.
Sincerely,
Board of Trustees
Name of Plan/Fund
The Local 734 Welfare Fund Plan or Benefits. The name of the Trust Fund through which these Plans are provided is the Local 734 Welfare Fund.
Plan Sponsorship and Administration
The Plan is sponsored and administered by a joint labor-management Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees is the Plan Administrator. The Board is divided equally between Trustees selected by the Union and by Trustees appointed by participating employers. The Board is assisted in its administration of the Fund by a Fund Administrator who handles claim payments and clerical administration. The legal address of the Board of Trustees, the names and addresses of the individual Trustees, and the Fund Administrator’s name and address are shown on page 66. Additionally, the Plan Administrator and Fund Administrator may delegate their respective duties to other service providers as they deem appropriate.
SERVICE OF LEGAL PROCESS
The agent whom the Trustees have appointed for service of legal process is shown on page 66. Legal process may also be served on the Fund Administrator or any Trustee.
SOURCE OF FINANCING FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS
The Fund receives contributions from employers who have entered into collective bargaining agreements with the Bakery, Cracker, Pie, Yeast Drivers, and Miscellaneous Workers Union Local 734 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, from the Union, Pension Fund, and Welfare Fund, and from employees, retirees and dependents who make self-payments. The Fund may also receive refunds or fees from its prescription benefit manager.
ACCUMULATION OF ASSETS AND PAYMENT OF BENEFITS
Employer, employee, retiree, and dependent contributions are received and held in trust by the Trustees pending the payment of benefits, insurance premiums, and administrative expenses.
TYPE OF PLAN AND METHOD OF PROVIDING BENEFITS
The Fund provides disability, medical, vision, dental, retiree and dependent death and AD&D benefits on a self-funded basis. When benefits are self-funded, the benefits are provided directly to you from the Fund. Benefits can only be paid to the extent that assets are available in the Fund.
There is also a dental HMO plan option that provides benefits in accordance with a contract between the Fund and BlueCare Dental HMO, 300 East Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601. BlueCare administers this program on behalf of the Trustees.
The prescription drug programs are administered in accordance with a contract between the Fund and Sav-Rx Prescription Services, 224 North Park Avenue, Fremont, NE 68025.
The Fund provides life insurance and accidental death and dismemberment insurance benefits for employees through Union Labor Life Insurance Company, 111 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001.
This Plan is not an insurance policy, and no benefits are provided by or through an insurance company other than the life and AD&D insurance benefits.
PLAN/FUND YEAR
The Fund’s financial records are kept on a 12-month fiscal period, beginning on May 1 of a year and ending on April 30 of the following year.
PLAN/FUND IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS
The Employer Identification Number (EIN) assigned to the Fund by the Internal Revenue Service is 36-2272414. The Plan Number (PN) is 501.