Working After Retirement? Be Sure You Know the Basic Plan’s Suspension of Benefits Rules.

After you begin receiving a monthly pension benefit from the Basic Plan, it is not uncommon that at some point during your “retirement” you may work again. Under certain circumstances, however, continued work after your benefits commence may lead to your monthly Basic Plan benefit being suspended. This is called Suspendible Service, and it is an important part of financial planning.

Suspendible Service is defined as employment in the same industry, in the same trade or craft worked under Covered Employment, and in the same geographic area covered by the Plan. For example, if you worked as a 1st Assistant Director at all times prior to your retirement from the Basic Plan, any work as a 1st Assistant Director after retirement would be considered Suspendible Service. However, work as a Director after retirement would not be considered Suspendible Service, since you did not work in this same craft as a Director prior to retirement.

If you receive a monthly Basic Plan benefit and work in Suspendible Service before the date you must begin taking benefits—called your Required Beginning Date—the following Suspension of Benefits rules apply:

• If you work seven days or fewer of Suspendible Service in a calendar month, you will continue to receive your monthly Basic Plan benefit.
• If you work eight or more days of Suspendible Service in a calendar month, your Basic Plan benefit will be suspended for that month.

If you are receiving a monthly Basic Plan benefit, you must notify the Plans office, in writing, within 21 days upon starting employment that is considered Suspendible Service. You can do this by filling out and returning the Employment Recap Form available at www.dgaplans.org/forms/pension. If you do not notify the Plans office, and it is later determined that your benefits should have been suspended, the overpayments will be recovered from your future benefit payments.

Likewise, you should also notify the Plans office when you have stopped performing Suspendible Service. Once notified, your benefits will begin again in the month after the last month during which benefits were suspended.

Suspendible service rules only apply to work performed before your Required Beginning Date. Effective January 1, 2023, the Required Beginning Date for the Pension Plans increased to the April 1st following the year you turn age 73 (up from age 72). This applies to those who turn age 72 after December 31, 2022 and allows participants to wait until April 1st of the year following the year they reach age 73 before they must begin receiving required minimum distributions. For example, if you turn 73 on December 31, 2024, your Required Beginning Date is April 1, 2025.

For full details on Suspendible Service, refer to the March 2020 Pension Plans Summary Plan Description and its updates. For further questions, contact a Pension Department representative by phone at (323) 866-2200, Ext. 404, or email pension@dgaplans.org.