cash windfall -- and a handful could walk away with a cool $100,000.

A few are due over $10,000, and the majority can expect cheques anywhere between 50 cents and $1,000.

Many of the men will be unaware that they are sitting on a healthy retirement nestegg -- which has been growing steadily for over 20 years.

The money, which was paid in by building workers across the Island, has been invested in the Construction Pension Fund.

The cash bonus has arisen after Penad Bermuda Limited -- who administer the fund, which was started in the 1980s -- is switching it from a defined benefit plan to a defined contribution plan. The result is that unattended portfolios, such as former construction workers who forgot about this pension fund, are losing money and will do so unless they are cashed in or transferred to a new plan.

Some could almost double their pension if they transfer it to the new contribution plan run by Penad Bermuda Ltd.

In a bid to track down the former workers, the company listed their names in the Royal Gazette on Monday.

Not everyone who took part in the former plan can expect $100,000, said Penad Bermuda's chairman of the board of directors Calvin White.

He said the amount of money depends on how long the person was with the Construction Fund -- the highest refund being $100,000 and the least is approximately 50 cents.

Mr. White said: "It's in the best interest for those members to (attend to) their funds.'' In effect, those who do not know they are in control of up to $100,000 from the Construction Fund will be losing money. In December 1999, the fund was changed from a benefit plan to a contribution plan and the former plan was very successful, yielding a strong surplus, he said.

But there is now an opportunity to make the surplus money work for the benefactor, he said.

He said if the benefactor contacted their former employer and it turned out they had a refund, there were two choices: (1) Receive a cash cheque for the amount or transfer the money, if it's over $500, to the contribution plan -- almost doubling the value of the pension.

Meaning, for $500 from the old benefit plan, benefactors can have close to $1,000 in the contribution plan.

The contribution plan carries a larger administration fee as each portfolio will have to be managed on an individual basis because the benefactor assumes higher risk but greater investment control.

The Construction Fund is administered by a board of directors who sub-contract various tasks to different firms.

The day-to-day administration is handled by Penad Bermuda Limited while the investment is handled by Emerald Group Investments.