Tribal ERISA (TERISA) Rights Statement

As a participant in the Plan, you are entitled to certain rights and protections under the Tribal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (TERISA). TERISA provides that all Plan participants shall be entitled to:

Receive Information About Your Plan and Benefits:

• Examine, without charge, at the Human Resources Office and other locations, all documents governing the Plan, including insurance contracts and collective bargaining agreements, and a copy of the latest annual report (Form 5500 Series) filed by the Plan with the U.S. Department of Labor.
• Obtain, upon written request to the Human Resources Office, copies of documents governing the operation of the Plan, including insurance contracts and collective bargaining agreements, and a copy of the latest annual report (Form 5500 Series) and updated Summary Plan Description (SPD). The Human Resources Office may charge you a reasonable fee for the copies.
• Receive a summary of the Plan’s annual financial report. The Plan Administrator is required by law to inform participants of this Summary Annual Report (SAR).

Prudent Actions by Plan Fiduciaries:

In addition to creating rights for Plan participants, TERISA imposes duties upon the people who are responsible for operating Employee benefit plans. The people who operate the plans, called “fiduciaries” of the plans, have a duty to do so prudently and in the interest of you and other Plan participants and beneficiaries. No one, including your employer 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 TERISA.

Enforcement of Rights:

If a 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 — free of charge — copies of documents relating to the decision, and to appeal any denial, all within certain time schedules.

Under TERISA, there are steps you can take to enforce the above rights. For instance, if you request materials from the Plan and do not receive them within 30 days, you may file suit, pursuant to Title XV, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Law, in the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court. In such a case, the court may require the Plan Administrator to provide the materials and pay 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.

You may also file suit within one year after the date in which the applicable incident described below occurred, pursuant to Title XV, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Law, in the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court if you:

• have a claim for benefits that is denied or ignored, in whole or in part,
• disagree with the Plan’s decision or lack thereof concerning the qualified status of a domestic relations order ,
• believe that Plan fiduciaries have misused the Plan’s money, or
• believe you have been discriminated against for asserting your rights.

The court will decide who should pay court costs and legal fees. If you are successful, the court may order the persons who have sued to pay these costs and fees. However, if you lose, the court may order you to pay these costs and fees, for example, if it finds the claim is frivolous.