Is a former union employee immediately eligible to participate upon hi

[Guest Tara Curran]

A union employee left the company several years ago and was never eligible to participate in the profit sharing plan because union members were excluded. He is now rehired as a non-union employee. If his breaks in service is not greater than 5 years, is he immediately eligible to participate in the plan or does he have to wait one year?

[KJohnson]

I believe 410(a)(5) requires you to include all years of service with the employer maintaining the plan except for certain specific exceptions. The employee receives credit for those years of service even if he or she was in a position not covered by the Plan.

If this is just a profit sharing plan, you might look for a rule in the Plan that the employee has to earn a year of service after he or she is re-employed. But even in those instances participation has to be reinstated retroactively back to the date of rehire.

he language of your plan document may well give you the answer.

I think this addressed in question 2:95 in the 1999 version of the 401(k) Answer Book.