Service Spanning rule

[cpc0506]

I have a service spanning rules question.

Plan's eligibility requirement is 6 consecutive months of service, quarterly entry dates.

Employee A is hired on 12/31/14, gets paid, and terminates the same day. The employee is then rehired on 7/6/15. I claim that we have to look at the service spanning rules and determine when the employee is eligible for the plan. Under the service spanning rules, since the time the passed from her termination date to her rehire date is less than 1 year, she is credited with the time while not employed and as such earns 7 plus months of service at her rehire. Does anyone agree?

If the employee is eligible, I say her entry date is her rehire date. Do you agree?

[ETA Consulting LLC]

I agree with you. There are some designs to get around this. For instance, you can make eligibility 1000 hours during the first 6 month (or 1 year of service in the event you miss the 1000 hours during that time).

Based on what you're saying, elapsed time appears to be the only requirement for eligibility (and the service spanning rules would apply).

Good Luck!