Documents to Be Made Available for Examination
Where certain documents are required to be made available for examination by participants and beneficiaries in the principal office of the Plan and in such other places as may be appropriate to make available all pertinent information to all participants and beneficiaries, disclosure will be made pursuant to the provisions of this paragraph. Such documents will be current, readily accessible, and clearly identified, and copies must be available in sufficient number to accommodate the expected volume of inquiries. The Plan will make copies of the Summary Plan Description, latest annual report, and the bargaining agreement, trust agreement, contract or other instruments under which the Plan is established or operated available at all times at the Trust Fund Office.
Summary Plan Descriptions and Summaries of Material Modification
For purposes of Summary Plan Descriptions and Summaries of Material Modification, materials furnished upon written request will be mailed to an address provided by the requesting participant or beneficiary or personally delivered to the participant or beneficiary.
Providing Documents at Employer Establishments or the Union Offices
The Plan is not required to maintain the Plan documents at all times at each employer establishment or union hall or office, but such documents will be made available at any such location within ten calendar days following the day on which a request for disclosure at that location is made. The Plan will make Plan documents available at the appropriate employer establishment or union meeting hall or office within the required ten day period when a request is made directly to the Plan or through a procedure separately establishing reasonable rules governing the making of requests for examination of Plan documents. If the Plan prescribes such a procedure and communicates it to Plan participants and beneficiaries, the Plan will not be required to comply with a request made in a manner which does not conform to the established procedure.
The procedure for making requests to examine Plan documents will permit requests to be made in a reasonably convenient manner both directly to the Plan and at each employer establishment, or union meeting hall or office where documents must be made available in accordance with this paragraph. If no such reasonable procedure is established, a good faith effort by a participant or beneficiary to request examination of Plan documents will be deemed a request to the Plan for purposes of this paragraph.
With respect to the Union and employers, documents will be made available for examination in the principal office of the employee organization and at each employer establishment in which at least 50 participants covered under the Plan are customarily working. In employment situations where employees do not usually work at, or report to, a single establishment, the Plan will take measures to ensure that Plan documents are available for examination at the meeting hall or office of each union local in which there are at least 50 participants covered under the Plan.