Break-In Service & Plan Re-entry

[Danny CPA]

I am trying to complete the contribution calculation for a plan, but am going back and forth on whether an employee re-enters the plan in 2010 or not. The plan has basic language that an employee re-enters if he is not gone for longer than 5 consectutive 1 year breaks in service or his original service with the employer. Here are his dates:

Date of Hire - April 15, 1995

Date of Termination - June 30, 2002 (worked 1,000 hours each year - 8 Years of Service)

Date of Re-Hire - April 19, 2010 (worked 1,000 in 2010 as well)

If I count from his original date of hire (April 1995) to each following April (April 1996, 97, 98, etc.) he has 7 Years and 2 months where he worked. If I take 7 Years and 2 months from his termination date, that would end sometime in 2009, and he would not re-enter the plan when he was hired in 2010.

However, if I look at Years of Service (where he received 1,000 hours), he received 8 Years of Service, including 2002. Starting the count from 2003, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, and he is re-hired in April 2010, he only had a 7 year break in service, which is less than his years of service of 8. Counting this way, he re-enters the plan, receives the safe harbor contribution and the profit sharing contribution.

What are your thoughts on the issue? As I said, I have been going back and forth.