As a participant in any of the Company’s benefit plans described in this handbook, you are entitled to certain rights and protections under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). ERISA provides that all plan participants shall be entitled to:

• Receive information about your plan and benefits.
• Examine, without charge, at the plan administrator’s office, and at other specified worksites, all plan documents — including pertinent insurance contracts, trust agreements, collective bargaining agreements, annual reports, and other documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service or the U.S. Department of Labor, and available at the Public Disclosure Room of the Pension and Welfare Benefit Administration.
• Obtain copies of all plan documents and other plan information, including insurance contracts and collective bargaining agreements, and copies of the latest annual report, and updated summary plan description, by writing to the plan administrator. The plan administrator may make a reasonable charge for copies.
• Receive a summary annual report of the plan’s financial activities. The plan administrator is required by law to furnish each participant with a copy of this summary annual report.

Continue Group Health Plan Coverage
You have the right to continue health care coverage for yourself, spouse or Eligible Dependents if there is a loss of coverage under the plan as a result of a Qualifying Event. You or your dependents may have to pay for such coverage. Review this summary plan description and the documents governing the plan on the rules governing your COBRA continuation of coverage rights. You should be provided a certificate of creditable coverage, free of charge, from your group health plan or health insurance issuer when you lose coverage under the plan, when you become entitled to elect COBRA continuation of coverage, and when your COBRA continuation of coverage ceases, if you request it before losing coverage, or if you request it up to 24 months after losing coverage. Without evidence of creditablecoverage, you may be subject to a pre-existing condition exclusion for 12 months (18 months for late enrollees) after your enrollment date in your new coverage.

Prudent Actions by Plan Fiduciaries
In addition to creating rights for plan participants, ERISA imposes duties upon the people who are responsible for the operation of the employee benefit plan. The people who operate your plan, called "fiduciaries" of the plan, have a duty to do so prudently and in the interest of you and other plan participants, and beneficiaries. No one, including your employer, your union, or any other person, may fire you, or otherwise discriminate against you in any way to prevent you from obtaining a plan benefit or exercising your rights under ERISA.

Enforce Your Rights
If your claim for a plan benefit is denied or ignored, in whole or in part, you have a right to know why this was done, to obtain copies of documents relating to the decision without charge, and to appeal any denial, all within certain time schedules.

Under ERISA, there are steps you can take to enforce the above rights. For instance, if you request a copy of plan documents or the latest annual report from the plan, and do not receive them within 30 days, you may file suit in a federal court. In such a case, the court may require the plan administrator to provide the materials and pay you up to $110 a day until you receive the materials, unless the materials were not sent because of reasons beyond the control of the plan administrator.

If you have a claim for benefits, which is denied or ignored, in whole or in part, you may file suit in a state or federal court. In addition, if you disagree with the plan’s decision or lack thereof concerning the qualified status of a domestic relations order or a medical child support order, you may file suit in federal court.

In order to file suit in a state or federal court concerning: (i) a claim for a benefit; (ii) the qualified status of a domestic relations order or medical child support order; or (iii) your service credit, you must file suit within one year of the date of the final determination by the Plan Administrator which is the basis of your suit. If you do not file suit within this time period, the Plan Administrator’s final determination will be binding and cannot be challenged by you in court.

If it should happen that plan fiduciaries misuse the plan’s money, or if you are discriminated against for asserting your rights, you may seek assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor, or you may file suit in a federal court. The court will decide who should pay court costs and legal fees. If you are successful, the court may order the person you have sued to pay these costs and fees. If you lose, the court may order you to pay these costs and fees, for example, if it finds your claim is frivolous.

Assistance With Your Questions
If you have any questions about your plan, you should contact the plan administrator.

If you have any questions about this statement or about your rights under ERISA, or if you need assistance in obtaining documents from the plan administrator, you should contact the nearest office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, listed in your telephone directory, or the Division of Technical Assistance and Inquiries, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210. You may also obtain certain publications about your rights and responsibilities under ERISA by calling the publications hotline of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration.