Life Insurance

Life Insurance is available only for eligible employees who are not utility employees. Life Insurance is not provided for retirees or dependents. An employee whose reduction in hours or termination of employment is due to reasons other than retirement will have the option of continuing his Life Insurance coverage under COBRA (page 27).

The amount of your Life Insurance is shown on page 6 of the Schedule of Benefits. If you die while you are eligible for this benefit, your Life Insurance is payable to your beneficiary regardless of the cause of death.

Beneficiary - Be sure that the person you want to receive your Life Insurance has been named as your beneficiary and is on file in the Fund Office. You can do this by filling in the beneficiary section of the Family Enrollment card and sending it to the Fund Office. A Family Enrollment card is provided in this booklet, or you can get one at www.lineco.org or from the Fund Office.

If you name more than one beneficiary and don't state how much each is to get, the beneficiaries will share equally.

If you haven't named a beneficiary or if your named beneficiary dies before you, your Life Insurance will be paid to the first of the following successive classes of survivors: your spouse; your children; your parents; your brothers and sisters; or your estate. If there is more than one survivor in the class payment is made to, the survivors in that class will share equally.

You can change your beneficiary at any time. Just submit a new beneficiary designation (on a Family Enrollment Card) and send it to the Fund Office during your lifetime. (To be valid, the change of beneficiary must be received by the Fund Office while you are still living.)

Waiver of Premium - If you become totally disabled and unable to work, your Life Insurance may be continued at no cost to you. You must meet all of the following conditions to have your Life Insurance continued under this provision:

  1. You must have been actively employed by a contributing employer within the 90-day period immediately preceding the date your total disability started.
  2. You must be totally disabled and thereby completely and continuously prevented from engaging in any occupation or employment for wages, compensation or profit. (Notification of a total disability determination from the Social Security Administration is sufficient evidence to establish eligibility for this provision.)
  3. Your disability must occur prior to your retirement.
  4. Your total disability must last for at least 9 months.
  5. You must provide the insurance company with acceptable medical proof that your disability is presumably permanent. The proof must be furnished while you are still covered under the Plan and after you have been disabled for at least 9 months and before your disability has lasted for 12 months.
  6. Each year afterwards you must provide proof that you remain disabled. This proof is to be submitted during the 3-month period preceding the anniversary date of your disability.

Your Life Insurance will be continued on a year-to-year basis as long as you are disabled. When your disability ends or if you fail to comply with the above proof requirements, your Life Insurance will no longer be continued.

Conversion Privilege - If your Life Insurance is going to terminate because your eligibility for Life Insurance terminates, or because the group insurance policy terminates, you can convert your Life Insurance to an individual policy as follows

  1. You must pay the insurance premiums.
  2. You can convert to any type of individual Life Insurance policy customarily issued by the insurance company except term insurance, and no medical examination or proof of good health is required.
  3. Your written application and first premium payment must be made within 31 days after termination of your eligibility for Life Insurance or termination of the group insurance policy.
  4. If you die within the 31-day period allowed for conversions, your Life Insurance will be paid even if you haven't applied for conversion.
  5. If your eligibility for Life Insurance terminates, you can convert up to, but not more than, the amount you had under the Plan. If the group insurance policy terminates, you can convert up to $10,000 if you have been continuously eligible under the Plan for 5 or more years. However, the $10,000 will be reduced by any amount of group life insurance for which you become eligible under any other group plan within 31 days of the policy termination.