subclause) shall be treated and paid as a pension separate from the pension earned before such distributions begin, and that payment of such separate benefit shall not commence until the employee attains the plan’s normal retirement age. (ii) Suspension of payments if plan in endangered or critical status Clause (i) shall not apply to a multiemployer plan during the period for which the multiemployer plan is in endangered or critical status (as defined under section 432) beginning after the first year the plan is in either of such statuses and ending with the first plan year for which the plan is not in either of such statuses. . (b) Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 Section 3(2)(A) of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ( 29 U.S.C. 1002(2)(A) ) is amended by inserting before the period at the end the following: (age 55 in the case of a plan to which section 401(a)(36)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 applies) . (c) Effective date The amendments made by this section shall apply to distributions made before, on, or after the date of the enactment of this Act.