WAITING PERIOD

WAITING PERIOD

Within 90 days after you have filed a claim for benefits, your plan
must tell you whether or not you will receive the benefits. Also, if
because of special circumstances your plan needs more time to examine
your request, it must tell you within the 90 days that additional time is
needed, why it is needed and the date by which the plan expects to
render a final decision. If your claim is denied, the plan administrator
must notify you in writing and explain in detail why it was denied. If
you receive no answer at all in 90 days -- or 180 days when an extension
of time was needed -- the claim is considered a denial and you can use
the plan's rules for appealing the denial.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR CLAIM IS DENIED

Your claim may have been denied because you are not eligible for
benefits under the plan. Perhaps you haven't been a partici-pant long
enough, or you are not the required age. Perhaps you needed to file
additional information about your claim. When you have been notified
that your claim has been denied, your plan administrator also must tell
you how to submit your denied claim for a full and fair review. You
have at least 60 days (the plan may provide you with more time) in
which to do this. Be sure to include all related information, particularly
any additional information or evidence, and get it to the specified person
and address.

REVIEWING YOUR APPEAL

If review of your appeal is going to take longer than 60 days, you
must be notified in writing of the delay. Except where the review is
made by a committee or board of trustees which meets at least quarterly,
a decision on your appeal must be made within 120 days of your appeal.
Once the final decision has been made, you must be told the reason
and the plan rules upon which the decision was based. This explanation
must be written in a manner that you can understand. If you do not
receive a notice within the waiting time, you can assume that your claim
has been denied after it was reviewed.

WHAT TO DO IF YOUR APPEAL IS DENIED

If you disagree with the final decision upon appeal, you may seek
legal assistance. You also may wish to get in touch with the Department
of Labor concerning your rights under ERISA.