The MEBA 401(k) Plan ("401(k) Plan") helps you save for your future. The 401(k) Plan lets you make pre-tax and after-tax contributions through convenient payroll deductions. Your pre-tax contributions and any investment returns are not taxed until withdrawn from the 401(k) Plan. The summary description of the 401(k) Plan on this site reflects the rules currently in effect. These pages provide only a brief overview of the 401(k) Plan. For more detailed information, please refer to your Summary Plan Description and the Plan’s Rules and Regulations. Nothing in this overview should be construed to replace or override anything that is in the 401(k) Plan Regulations.
You can choose from among various options in which to invest the money in your 401(k) Plan accounts. You can invest in one fund or in a combination of several funds, whatever best suits your personal investment goals.
You are eligible to contribute to the 401(k) Plan as soon as you begin work in a position covered by a collective bargaining agreement between an employer and District No. 1-PCD, MEBA (the "Union") that provides for participation in the 401(k) Plan. You are also eligible to contribute if you work for an employer that does not have a collective bargaining agreement with the Union, but that has adopted the 401(k) Plan for its employees with the permission of the Board of Trustees. The Plan Office can tell you if your employer has adopted the 401(k) Plan.
Participation is voluntary, so you must make an election in order to participate. You may sign up to contribute to the 401(k) Plan at any time after you become eligible by completing and submitting a 401(k) Plan Enrollment/Election Form to your employer. You can obtain a copy of the form from your employer, by downloading it, or requesting it from the Plan Office by calling (410) 547-9111.
If you are a sailing employee, you must complete a new form for each voyage and submit it at the start of the voyage.
If you are a non-sailing employee, you only have to complete and submit a form when you first start contributing to the 401(k) Plan and it will stay in effect so long as you remain a non-sailing employee of the same employer. You must submit a new form if you change employers.
You must submit your completed 401(k) Plan Enrollment/Election Form to both your employer's payroll department and to the Plan Office. Your employer deducts your contributions from your pay and forwards them to the Plan Office. The Plan Office then transmits your contributions to Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Company for investment in your 401(k) accounts.
When you first elect to participate in the 401(k) Plan, you need to name a beneficiary to whom your account balance will be paid if you die before your account balance is fully paid out to you. You may download a 401(k) Beneficiary Designation Form or you may request one from the Plan Office. You must file an original Beneficiary Designation Form with the Plan Office - faxed or emailed Forms will not be accepted.
If you are single, you may name anyone you wish as your beneficiary, and you may change your beneficiary at any time.
If you are married, your spouse is automatically your beneficiary. If you want to name someone else as your beneficiary, your spouse must provide written consent to the designation on your Beneficiary Designation Form and your spouse's signature must be notarized.
If you don't have a valid Beneficiary Designation Form on file with the Plan Office when you die, or if your designated beneficiary can't be located, your 401(k) account will be paid in the following order of precedence:
Generally, you can make four types of contributions to your 401(k) accounts:
The first three contribution types listed above are deducted from your earnings. The fourth type, Rollover Contributions, is usually made in a plan-to-plan transfer or by check. Each contribution is explained in more detail in your Summary Plan Description.
If you are a sailing employee, you may change your contribution amount each time you start a voyage and fill out a new 401(k) Plan Enrollment/Election Form. To stop contributing entirely, simply do not submit a new form at the start of your next voyage.
If you are a non-sailing employee, you may change or stop your contribution amount at the times permitted by your employer. Contact your employer's payroll department for details. To change or stop, you must submit a new 401(k) Plan Enrollment/Election Form to your employer's payroll department.
You are always 100% vested in all your contributions and investment returns under the 401(k) Plan.
