Unit Benefit Plan

Retirement plan under which a discrete increment of periodic retirement income is credited to an employee for each year of service with an employer. This increment is either a flat dollar amount or, more often, a percentage of compensation. If percentage of compensation is credited, it generally is 1/4-2/2%. At retirement, years of service are multiplied by percentage of compensation. The resulting percentage is applied to the employee's final average or career average of earnings. For example, if an employee has 30 years of service, a final average earnings of $100,000, and the percentage of compensation is 1/2%, the employee's annual retirement benefit would be $45,000 ($30 x $100,000 x .015).