Terminated and Rehired in Same Year

[Guest Bjorn]

Any thoughts on whether you can treat the following as a "newly eligible" participant for purposes of the 30 day election rule? The employee participates in a deferred compensation plan by making deferrals under the plan during 2006. The participant is terminated in early 2006 and 2 months later is rehired. The participant upon rehire must wait 30 days, but then becomes eligible to participate in the same deferred compensation plan.

Note: Under the plan you must receive your account upon termination of employment and in this case the employee is being treated by the employer as a new hire.

Any other way around this issue?