Background:

My company has a tuition reimbursement plan mentioned in an old Employee Handbook dated 2/98. Note, I did sign the handbook after I started work. The handbook says: "Employees utilizing this benefit (Tuition Reimbursement) will be required to sign a Tuition Reimbursement Agreement which will include a Recovery Clause stipulating that in the event that the employee voluntarily terminates employment within one year of course completion, the employee will reimburse the Company for paid Tuition Reimbursement." The Tuition Reimbursement Agreement that they gave me to sign states that I have to stay two years or I have to pay back the money. I must pay 100% if less than one year, and 50% if over one year, but less than two years. The agreement, if I sign it, says they can deduct from my paycheck the owed amount even if I'm terminated due to poor performance. It does not state anything about layoff, which would seem to me that it would be up to them to do what ever they want.

1) Is it legal to tie tuition reimbursement

to employment duration? (i.e. if you leave,

are terminated, or are laid off then must

pay back percentage upto 100%)

2) What does it mean when policies are added/changed/deleted in new employee handbooks? If I don't sign new versions of the handbook, what does that mean?

3) The Tuition agreement says that it is "in no way a contract of employment" yada yada yada. The handbook states this also. Why do they think they need to state this?

Thanks

steve

If you have loaded 5.0, please check Corbel's web site and download the service pack of fixes. Brand new as of the other day.

One current known problem (not fixed yet)

is a vesting problem. It doesn't effect a lot of plans, but in some plans all employees show as 0 vested in profit sharing or match.

reposting eligibility solves the problem.

the folks at Quantechland are working on it, but I figure that is a serious enough problem to watch out for.

If a terminated participant of a money purchase plan wants to take a distribution, what are their options? I realize that they can just take a lump-sum distribution, but can they roll it into an IRA or to another qualified plan? Also, do all distributions from a money purchase plan require a spouses signature for Qualified Joint Survivor Annuity purposes? Thanks!

Is the only payment option for a terminated plan a lump sum cash distribution or can the employee avoid taxation by rolling the distribution into an IRA? Also, is the employee subject to the 10% penalty since the distribution was not due to a termination of employment? Thanks!

I am a new user to Quantech. Is anyone willing to share some custom reports so I can learn more about creating my own custom reports.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

A client of ours is trying to entice an individual to come to work for them. She has a 401(k) plan with her current employer with a loan against it. Is it possible for the loan to be rolled over to the new employer? The new employer is willing to administer the loan and to pay any fees. Would we need to see the plan document and loan policy of the current employer to see what they do with loans upon termination of employment first? Any assistance would be appreciated.

Must the general test or any other special tests be completed if an employer contributes different levels of match for differing levels of years of service (assuming this allowable in the first place) if HCE's participate in the match. A client is considering a greater match for ee's with greater years of service than for those of lesser years. As w/ most plans, the owners have been around the longest. I'd appreciate any thoughts on special issues that should be looked at in this situation.

Assume that a plan document states the matching contributions will be granted on a discretionary basis and only to NHCE's. The document is a standardized prototype. Can the plan sponsor specify via Board Resolution that employees with 10 or fewer years of service receive a 25% match while employees with 11 or more years of service will receive a 50% match? Since no HCE's benefit under the match, I believe I have heard this can be done, but want to doublecheck. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

What is the difference between an exempt and non-exempt employee, especially where overtime is concerned?

Has anyone built or are you using a web site to enroll participants in a health plan, change beneficiaries, change addresses, etc.?

How did you go about building the site? how long have you been using it? What has worked and what hasn't?

Does anyone have any idea or heard any rumors as to when the IRS will open up the determination letter process for GUST amendments/restatements including post-1998 language. We're trying to gear up for having to restate all of our plans next year and the more time available the better off we'll all be.

Can someone tell me what a CAFR report is. We have a governmental plan whose auditors are looking for this. Does it have another name?

Thanks.

Can a pariticipant in a qualified plan name a charitable trust as beneficiary?

I am working with an employer who currently pays for all benefits and is contemplating putting in a Cafeteria Style program. Assuming the employer intends to give each employee "benefit dollars" as credits to be applied against the cost of the employee selections,

1) Is there any restrictions as to the amount of benefit dollars that may be applied to each employee?

2) Can the employer require via the plan document that all "benefit dollars" allocated to an employee must be spent on a benefit option (ie insurance, FSA or 401k?) or must the employer allow the employee to take the unused allocation as cash.

Can a participant in a qualified name a charitable trust as beneficiary?

start by looking at a non 401(k).

15% of compensation is only 56,700. That is the maximum contribution for the plan. (If you add deferral option, that figure will go down.)

If the intention is to get the owners 30,000 contrib, you would have to have a money purchase plan as well. Since the plan(s) would probably be top heavy, you could put in a 3% (or more) money purchase to cover that end of things. This would free up enough room under the 15% ps limit to possibly get the doctors a combined plan total of 30,000.

If you add a deferral feature, you better hope your 2 rank and file ees defer something worthwhile, otherwise you will fail the ADP test.

If the owners don't care about getting the 30,000, then small plans might best be run as a safe harbor or simple 401(k). You are guarenteed passing the ADP test.

We're considering engaging the services of a TPA for a 403(B) plan - any recommendations for an outfit servicing the Los Angeles/Southern California area and contact names would be much appreciated.

Can a multiple employer plan make distributions to ps when an employer ceases to be an adopting employer of the plan without first getting a favorable IRS determination? The plan sponsor is telling us that we don't need one. It's my understanding that at least a Form 5300 has to be filed but I'm not sure if this is enough.

I am currently researching bridge in service policies for new hires. I am looking for any information concerning benefits given to re-hires. Also, what are the minimum and maximum number of months used to determine what benefits will be given and how to calculate the adjusted seniority date/

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

I am currently researching birdge in service policies. Any information/policies you can provide regarding what benefits are given to re-hires and how you calculate adjusted seniority dates would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.