(a)        Any policy or contract, except a joint, reversionary or survivorship annuity contract, whereby annuities are payable to more than one person, is a group annuity contract. The person, firm or corporation to whom or to which the contract is issued, is the holder of the contract. The term “annuitant” means any person to whom or which payments are made under the group annuity contract. No authorized insurer shall deliver or issue for delivery in this State any group annuity contract except upon a group of annuitants that conforms to the following: under a contract issued to an employer, or to the trustee of a fund established by an employer or two or more employers in the same industry or kind of business, the stipulated payments on which shall be paid by the holder of the contract either wholly from the employer’s funds or funds contributed by the employer, or partly from the funds and partly from funds contributed by the employees covered by such contract, and providing a plan of retirement annuities under a plan which permits all of the employees of such employer or of any specified class or classes thereof to become annuitants. Any such group of employees may include retired employees, and may include officers and managers as employees, and may include the employees of subsidiary or affiliated corporations of a corporation employer, and may include the individual proprietors, partners and employees of affiliated individuals and firms controlled by the holders through stock ownership, contract or otherwise.

(b)        The insurer of a group annuity contract shall issue to the policyholder or to the annuitant directly, within 30 days of the annuitant’s enrollment in the group annuity contract, an individual certificate for each annuitant which:

(1)        Identifies the annuity to which the annuitant is entitled.

(2)        States the name of the person to whom the annuity is payable.

(3)        Discloses all of the rights and obligations of the insurer, the policyholder, the annuitant, and the persons to whom the annuity is payable with respect to the group annuity contract.

N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-3-150 applies to the form of the individual certificate required by this subsection.

(c)        Each group annuity contract shall include a provision that the insurer will issue to the policyholder within 30 days of the effective date of the contract, for delivery to each annuitant, an individual certificate setting forth the information described in subsection (b) of this section.

(d)       This section does not apply to annuities used to fund:

(1)        An employee pension plan that is covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA);

(2)        A plan described in sections 401(a), 401(k), 403(b), or 457 of the Internal Revenue Code, where the plan, as defined in ERISA, is established or maintained by an employer;

(3)        A governmental or church plan defined in section 414 of the Internal Revenue Code or a deferred compensation plan of a state or local government or a tax-exempt organization under section 457 of the Internal Revenue Code; or

(4)        A nonqualified deferred compensation arrangement established or maintained by an employer or plan sponsor. (1947, c. 721; 1993, c. 506, s. 3; 2005-234, s. 3; 2006-105, s. 2.9.)