1. Special Leave Without Pay (SLWOP)
If you have been granted special leave without pay (SLWOP) you have two options:
(i) to pay your own and the organizational share of the monthly contributions to the Pension Fund concurrently with the SLWOP (this has to be arranged with the employing organization before the SLWOP);
(ii) not to pay contributions and not to accrue pension rights for the period of the SLWOP.
2. Separation after less than 5 years
Options
1. Withdrawal settlement → one-time payment in an amount equivalent to your own contributions plus interest, which extinguishes all other rights to any other future benefits.
2. Defer payment of your withdrawal settlement for up to 36 months.
(a) within 36 months of separation and no benefit was paid → participation in the Pension Fund is considered to have been continuous.
(b) after 36 months of separation → you will start a new period of contributory service for which you will become eligible to receive another benefit.
(c) after a withdrawal settlement has been paid to you → you can restore your most recent prior period of contributory service within 12 months from your date of re-entry into participation in the Pension Fund.
3. Separation after five (5) or more years and prior to reaching early retirement age
Options
1. Withdrawal settlement → one-time payment in an amount equivalent to your own contributions plus interest, which extinguishes all other rights to any other future benefits.
2. Deferred retirement benefit → payable when you reach normal retirement age or when you become eligible for an early retirement, with the applicable reduction factors. No child benefit is payable.
3. Defer your benefit election (i.e. a withdrawal settlement or a deferred retirement benefit) for up to 36 months.
4.1. within 36 months of separation and no benefit was paid → participation in the Pension Fund is considered to have been continuous.
4.2. after 36 months of separation → you will start a new period of contributory service for which you will become eligible to a separate benefit.
4.3. after a withdrawal settlement has been paid to you → you can restore your most recent prior period of contributory service within 12 months from your date of re-entry into participation in the Pension Fund.
6. Break in Service
If you return to service of a UNJSPF member organization within 36-months after separation from service, your participation in the Pension Fund is deemed to have been continuous (provided that no benefit has been paid).
7. Restoration
If you re-enter the Pension Fund after previous period of participation for which a withdrawal settlement has been paid → you can restore your most recent prior period of contributory service within 12 months from your date of re-entry into participation in the Pension Fund.