Hardship 6-month Suspension Over

[KateSmithPA]

The 6-month suspension period has ended for a participant who took a hardship withdrawal.

Does the employer automatically re-start salary deferrals based on prior elections, or does the participant have to re-elect to begin salary deferrals?

Thank you.

Kate Smith

[J Simmons]

The 6-month suspension period has ended for a participant who took a hardship withdrawal.

Does the employer automatically re-start salary deferrals based on prior elections, or does the participant have to re-elect to begin salary deferrals?

Thank you.

Kate Smith

I think the ER automatically resumes the salary deferrals based on prior elections, barring some plan provision that specifies otherwise in this situation. The election was not stopped or superseded by a subsequent deferral election of the EE seeking to stop the deferrals. The EE sought a hardship withdrawal, and as a consequence deferrals could not be made for 6 months despite his extant deferral election. Now that the regulatory abeyance of deferrals has ended, the extant deferral election is yet in place without the EE either having superseded it with another election submitted during an open enrollment period or by having instructed a complete cessation of all deferrals until later electing to have deferrals again.