Seasonal Employees

[Guest FoolsGold]

I am currently dealing with an organization looking at establishing a 401(k)plan. The organization is a ski resort. They have approximately 35 employees who are considered full-time permanent, approximately 25 employees who are full-time seasonal and aprroximately 200-300 who are considered part-time seasonal. My questions is, if all employees other than full-time permament employees normally and customarily work a 6 month year, can they be excluded from participation if they do not complete a 1,000 hour requirement over a twelve consecutive month period? This questions is different for "seasonal" employees than for part-time employees. I have read 410(a)3 and this seems inconclusive. Anyone have an idea or who can point me in the direction where to look? I have asked many "experts" and they either can not provide a clear answer or disagree with other "experts".

[Dowist]

I think there were proposed Dept of Labor regulations on this (that may have been withdrawn) - maybe in the Hour of Service definitions. ERISA apparently originally contemplated that there would be a different set of standards for seasonal employees - you might find some legislative history on this. I believe that DOL took a stab at these rules shortly after ERISA passed. But that there were complications and objections and nothing ever came of it.

In the absence of any DOL directives I think you're under the regular 1000 hour rules.

[Kirk Maldonado]

Jurisdiction of that project was subsequently transferred to the IRS, but nothing ever came of it.