Sallie Mae 2015 Annual Report Download - page 227

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installments shall continue to be paid to the Participant’s Beneficiary, as determined under
Section 13.3, at such times and in such amounts as they would have been paid to the
Participant had he survived.
ARTICLE 10. EMERGENCY BENEFIT
Section 10.1. In the event that the Committee, upon written request of a Participant,
determines, in its sole discretion, that the Participant has suffered an unforeseeable financial
emergency, the Company shall pay to the Participant from the vested portion of his
Distribution Option Account, as soon as practicable following such determination, an
amount necessary to meet the emergency, after deduction of any and all taxes as may be
required pursuant to Section 13.9 (the “Emergency Benefit”), and after taking into account
the extent to which such hardship is or may be relieved through reimbursement or
compensation by insurance or otherwise or by liquidation of the Participant’s assets (to the
extent the liquidation of such assets would not itself cause severe financial hardship). An
unforeseeable financial emergency means a severe financial hardship to the Participant
resulting from an illness or accident of the Participant, the Participant’s spouse, the
Participant’s beneficiary, or of a Participant’s dependent (as defined in Code Section 152,
without regard to Code Section 152(b)(1), (b)(2), and (d)(1)(B)); loss of the Participant’s
property due to casualty (including the need to rebuild a home following damage to a home
not otherwise covered by insurance, for example, not as a result of a natural disaster); or
similar extraordinary and unforeseeable circumstances arising as a result of events beyond
the control of the Participant. Examples of events that may constitute an unforeseeable
financial emergency include the imminent foreclosure of or eviction from the Participant’s
primary residence; the need to pay for medical expenses, including non-refundable
deductibles, as well as for the costs of prescription drug medication; and the need to pay for
the funeral expenses of the Participant’s spouse, the Participant’s beneficiary, or the
Participant’s dependent (as defined in Code Section 152, without regard to Code Sections
152(b)(1), (b)(2), and (d)(1)(B)). Whether a Participant is faced with an unforeseeable
financial emergency will be determined based on the relevant facts and circumstances of
each case, but, in any case, a distribution on account of an unforeseeable financial emergency
may not be made to the extent that such emergency is or may be relieved: (i) through
reimbursement or compensation by available insurance or otherwise, (ii) by liquidation of
the Participant’s assets, to the extent the liquidation of such assets would not itself cause
severe financial hardship or (iii) by cessation of deferrals under the Plan. Emergency
Benefits shall be paid first from the Participant’s In-Service Distribution Accounts, if any,
in the order in which such Accounts would otherwise be distributed to the Participant. If
the distribution exhausts the In-Service Accounts, the Retirement Distribution Account may
be accessed. With respect to that portion of any Distribution Option Account which is
distributed to a Participant as an Emergency Benefit in accordance with this Section, no
further benefit shall be payable to the Participant under this Plan. Notwithstanding anything
in this Plan to the contrary, a Participant who receives an Emergency Benefit in any Plan
Year shall not be entitled to make any further Salary or Bonus Deferrals for the remainder
of such Plan Year.