Eligibility for laidoff employee

[Guest JohnSB]

We have a Plan that has a 1 year waiting period and the employee is eligible on the first of the month following that date. The company has an employee that meets all other eligibility requirements except the 1 year service requirement. The individual's work history with the company is as follows:

Hired August 2004

Laidoff January 2005 (5 months of service)

Hired June 2005

Laidoff December 2005 (6 months of service)

Hired April 2006

When would this employee be eligible?

[Guest WWPDRC]

To many unknowns to answer this questions. How does the plan define a "Year of Service"? Is it based on hours or elasped time. What is the eligibility computation period? How many hours did the employee work during eligibility computation period?

[Guest LCOLLINS]

If YOS is 1,000 hours you would look at the first anniversary year of August __, 2004 - August __, 2005. If they worked the 1,000 hours needed they would enter the following month September 1, 2005. If they did not work the 1,000 hours during the anniversary year you then usually look at the plan year (1/1 - 12/31) if this is a calendar year. This depends on what the document calls for however -- if eligibility period switches to plan year or remains the anniversary year. So you would look at 1/1/04 - 12/31/04 for the 1,000 hours; then 1/1/05 - 12/31/05 and so forth.