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MAKING A BENEFIT ELECTION Prior to the start of your participation in the Plan for a Plan Year, at a time announced by the Employer, you must complete and return to the Employer a benefit election form setting out your benefit elections and indicating how much of your Pay Conversion Contributions, if any, that you want used to pay your benefits. If you do not make an initial benefit election, you will not be able to participate in the Plan, until the next Plan Year. The Employer allows negative elections for health, dental and life insurance plan premiums. The Employer assumes that you want to pay for these premiums with pre-tax money, but will allow the Eligible Employee to waive participation in the premium portion of the Plan, upon the completion of the appropriate waiver forms by the employee. Negative elections are not used for your medical care reimbursement and dependent care reimbursement benefits. You must affirmatively elect these benefits. CHANGING YOUR BENEFIT ELECTION After a Plan Year begins you generally cannot change your benefit election or allocation of Pay Conversion Contributions. However, if there is a Status Change you may change your election. Any such change must be consistent with the Status Change. For example, if a participant's spouse becomes unemployed, the participant can stop or reduce the rate of additions to his or her dependent care reimbursement account. This Status Change would not be eligible to allow a change to the medical reimbursement portion of the Plan. However, even with a consistent Status Change, you may not reduce your medical reimbursement coverage to a level lower than the amount of inedical reimbursement benefits that you have already claimed for the Plan Year. Any such change in your election must be made using Employer forms prior to or after the Status Change, but not later than thirty (30) days after the date of the Status Change. Such a change will be effective as of the first payroll period for which the Employer can process the change, or, if later, the actual date the Status Change occurs. If you cease making contributions for benefits during a Plan Year because of a termination of employment (or some other reason), you will be able to make a new benefit election for that Plan Year, if you become re-employed after a period of thirty (30) days or longer. If you return to employment within thirty (30) days, the Employer may re-instate your original election for that Plan Year. 14