We recently took over CB/DC plans and discovered that they have a large number of leased employees. In looking at the history of these leased employees - they work substantially full-time and have been there over a year. The plans currently exclude leased employees - but as we all know they need to be counted in our coverage testing. The DC document has fail safe language - so question number one - are we then precluded from performing the Average Benefits Test to satisfy 410(b) - my initial thought is yes (however I'm not sure how it works with the CB plan also failing). Does the corrective measure then mean we need to begin to bring in the leased employees based on the fail safe criteria until such time we pass the ratio percentage test? IF we are able to go to the ABT to pass coverage - it looks like we need to really ramp up the level of contributions people are getting - to the point where some NHCE (non-leased) are getting almost 40% of their compensation in an allocation. The other thought is we could do a corrective amendment to bring in the people (leased) needed to pass the ABT.
Sadly, it appears that the prior TPA did not do anything with respect to the leased employees. Population is roughly 18 employees - of which 4 are highly - 5 haven't met the eligibility requirements and they have 13 leased employees that must be counted in the testing as not benefiting.
Any thoughts? I feel terrible for the client as they have had this relationship with the leased employees for years - and it's now just being addressed.