Cash Balance conversion issues

[Guest sgriff]

I have a client that is converting its DB plan to a Cash Balance Plan and a couple of issues have come up and I cannot seem to find guidance - perhaps the answer is so simple that there is no guidance out there - please help if you can:

1) if a participant terminates employment with the employer, but is not going to commence benefits until a later date, can the employer require the employee to make a choice as to whether he is going to keep his benefits under the old DB plan or whether he will elect the cash balance benefits at the time of termination -- instead of allowing the employee to defer the decision until he actually decides to retire?

2) my client will have two categories - group A has a choice between the DB plan and the cash balance plan, group B has to choose the cash balance plan. If an employee transfers from group A to group B what what is the consequence, since now the employee is a member of a group who does not have the option of participating in the DB plan?

Forgive me if these questions seem elementary, but I am a new attorney just getting started in the employee benefits area. Thanks for your help.