Allocation exception - retirement

[pholosofizer]

For plans that have an exception to the allocation conditions, specifically retirement, I've always treated as: if the person had reached normal retirement age they would receive the contribution regardless of reason for termination.

On the ERISA Outline Book, it mentions:

"Another common exception is for a participant who has reached the normal retirement age stated in the plan, and retires before the end of the year."

A coworker questioned the "retires" part because we can't find any definition of retiring in the AA, BPD, EOB. When you say retire, many would assume leaving the workforce and enjoying endless margaritas on a beach/etc. The only reference that can be found is NRA, which is easily determinable. Outside of using a dictionary...

So, is this exception solely in reference to NRA? Could a plan modify the reason for leaving work as part of the conditions?

[Bird]

My definition is terminating employment (for any reason) and being eligible for Normal Retirement - same as yours, I think. I would not want to specify a reason in the plan document.

[K2retire]

Many adoption agreements specify "reach normal retirement age" rather actually saying "retire".