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On July 30th, the Internal Revenue Service updated the retirement plan COVID Q&A on their website to clarify that an individual terminated and rehired in 2020 due to COVID is not considered to have an employer initiated severance from employment. It is unclear to me whether this guidance is only applicable for for COVID related severance and rehire in 2020, or is this the ongoing general interpretation for future years and other terminations/rehires (ie - due to sale of a business; closing of a plant; etc)? Q15. Are employees who participated in a business’s qualified retirement plan, then laid off because of COVID-19 and rehired by the end of 2020, treated as having an employer-initiated severance from employment for purposes of determining whether a partial termination of the plan occurred? (added July 30, 2020) A15. Generally, no. Subject to the facts and circumstances of each case, participating employees generally are not treated as having an employer-initiated severance from employment for purposes of calculating the turnover rate used to help determine whether a partial termination has occurred during an applicable period, if they’re rehired by the end of that period. That means participating employees terminated due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rehired by the end of 2020 generally would not be treated as having an employer-initiated severance from employment for purposes of determining whether a partial termination of the retirement plan occurred during the 2020 plan year. See Revenue Ruling 2007-43 for more information on partial terminations, including vesting rules, how to calculate the turnover rate for employer-initiated severances, the presumption that a turnover rate of at least 20 percent during an applicable period results in a partial termination, and how to determine the applicable period. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/coronavirus-related-relief-for-retirement-plans-and-iras-questions-and-answers#:~:text=In general%2C section 2202 of,to qualified individuals%2C as well

Yes it may be legal. See the link below for more info. https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/EBSA/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/publications/filing-a-claim-for-your-disability-benefits.pdf