Is a hardship withdrawal or hardship distribution from vested match an

[John A]

Is a hardship withdrawal or hardship distribution from vested match an eligible rollover distribution?

It is clear to me that a hardhip distribution taken from the employee deferral source is no longer an eligible rollover distribution. I am not clear about whether or not hardship distributions taken under Rev. Rul. 71-224 from non-employee deferral sources are or are not eligible rollover distributions. (Does Rev. Rul. 71-224 allow distributions due to hardship from vested match, or just from profit sharing?)

The language in the document I am working with is:

"Upon at least 30 days' written notice to the plan administrator, a participant may make a withdrawal of all or any portion of his salary reduction account or the vested portion of his matching account at any time after he has attained age 59 1/2 or in the event of hardship, provided that any hardship withdrawal from a participant's salary reduction account shall not include earnings accrued after 1988."

[R. Butler]

Technically it is an eligible rollover distribution. However, my question has always been why? If the participant is electing a roll over than is it really a hardship?