In January we announced the tremendous news that Congress passed a law within the Consolidated Appropriations Act (2021) that restored important Early Retiree benefits to members of the Carpenters’ Pension Trust Fund of St. Louis (St. Louis Plan) who retired on or after July 1, 2013 and who continued working past retirement.
Part of the enactment of this new law is restoring amounts withheld from these Early Retired and working members. Any service credit members earned after July 1, 2013 but before their actual Early Pension commencement date was considered “non-grandfathered” service and had to be withheld. It was only added back into their monthly pension when they either stopped working or turned age 62, whichever occurred earlier. Under the new law, not only are members entitled to these amounts in their monthly pension, but the St. Louis Plan will “restore” all the withheld amounts to them since their retirement began plus interest.
All members who receive pension benefits that will be affected by this restoration have been notified by letter. These adjusted payouts should begin mid-summer 2021.