Earning Pension Service Credit
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LOSS OF SERVICE CREDIT
(Break-in-Service)

A Break-in-Service means that all your earned years of service credit are permanently canceled. If you are vested, however, your years of service cannot be canceled—you cannot have a Break-in-Service.

Due to changing federal laws, the point at which a break-in-service can happen has also changed several times.

Break Year

You will have a Break Year for each calendar year that you do not earn Eligibility Service. However, you will not have a Break Year if your failure to earn Eligibility Service was due to:

• illness or injury
• employment with a participating local union or its international association
• maternity/paternity leave

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Before 1976

You will have a Break-in-Service if you had 2 Break Years in a row. All your earned years of service credit are permanently canceled.

1976 through 1985

You will have a Break-in-Service when the number of Break Years in a row equals the greater of 2 or the number of your previously earned years of Eligibility Service. All your earned years of service credit are permanently canceled.

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Beginning in 1986

You will have a Break-in-Service when the number of Break Years in a row equals the greater of 5 or the number of your previously earned years of Eligibility Service. All your earned years of service credit are permanently canceled.

Return to Covered Employment After a Break-in-Service

A Break-in-Service permanently cancels all of your previously earned years of service. If you return to work after a Break-in-Service, you will be considered a new employee with no previous service.

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