If you are enrolled in the Death and Disability Plan, the Board pays a salary continuation benefit to your beneficiaries if, when you die, you are an active, disabled, or retired member, or vested in the Defined Benefit Pension Plan but no longer working for a PC(USA) employer.
The salary continuation benefit amount depends on your employment status when you die.
If you are an active employee or disabled when you die, your benefit equals the death benefit basis,* payable in 12 equal monthly installments after you die.
If you are retired when you die, your benefit is designed to assist with funeral expenses; the amount is tied to your retirement date:
If you were vested in the Defined Benefit Pension Plan and did not begin receiving pension benefits when you ended employment, your beneficiaries may be eligible for a benefit of $10,000, if you met the Rule of 70 at termination. If you were receiving a pension benefit on January 1, 2007, your survivors may also be eligible for a benefit of $10,000. See the plan document for details.
*The death benefit basis is the greater of the pension participation basis [annual effective salary or 25 percent of the congregational ministers’ median, whichever is more, up to the 2023 IRS maximum of $330,000 (up from $305,000 in 2022)] or the applicable median (prorated for part-time employment).