Late year amendment and vesting

[MoShawn]

An amendment is made 12/15 (not an -11g amendment) to provide an additional contribution to 5 individuals who were not otherwise eligible in order to pass testing. Plan subsequently terminates on 12/31. Are these 5 required to be vested?

[Guest Sieve]

If these individuals were participants with account balances as of the date that the plan terminated (which they apparently were as a result of the amendment which provided them a portion of the allocation), they would have to be fully vested as a result of the termination. They were treated as "benefitting under the plan" for purposes of 410(b) because they received an allocation of employer c0ntributions.

[MoShawn]

Forgot to mention that part - they were terminated prior to 12/15 with no vesting.

[Guest Sieve]

Severed from employment or not, they had an account balance as of 12/31. So, they become fully vested upon plan termination.