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That something might not be precluded by Federal tax law won't matter if the employer does an act that is beyond its powers under State or local law.

For 2014, before they ran out of time in the year to have enough wages left to be paid in order to even make such an election, did the employee fill out a deferral election that said something like this? "I elect to defer from my compensation the largest possible amount for each calendar year as permitted under 402(g), including any catch-up deferral if applicable." If they made such an election, and they still had enough wages left to be paid in the year when they made that election, then the plan has a failure to follow the employee's written deferral election. See Revenue Procedure 2013-12 (probably a 50% QNEC by the employer for the missed deferral). Otherwise, HCE or NHCE, either way, if there's no concern about committing tax fraud, then why bother to even issue a Form W-2 in the first place, and why bother with getting written deferral elections in place prior to withholding such deferrals?