Eligiblity of a Rehire

[Lou81]

Hoping someone can help.

Plan's eligibility is 2 months of service, with monthly entry

its an FTW Doc and reads, Completion of 2 consecutive months of continuous service (not to exceed 12; hours of service failsafe apply) Rolling period

i have an employee hired 10/7/2020 terminated 11/7/2020.  Rehired 10/27/2022

Trying to determine if he is eligible. 

since he worked in both Oct and Nov in 2020 does this count as his 2 months of service? 

Thank you!

 

[Riley Britton]

I would think not. 10/7/2020 - 11/7/2020 is one month, no? 

[Paul I]

Is the service provision the election in the FTW document B.7.g?

"g.    Completion of ___ consecutive month(s) of continuous service (not to exceed 12; hours of service failsafe applies)"

If yes, note that this election has a condition for entry that is earlier than the statutory 12-month eligibility computation period/1000 hour requirement, and if the early entry is not met, then the statutory eligibility conditions apply.  This is not an elapsed time election.

In this case employment from 10/7 - 11/17 is not a period of continuous service so there was no early entry.  There was no subsequent employment in the individual's initial ECP so there are no rolling periods to consider.  The individual certainly did not work 1000 hours in the initial ECP. 

Since the individual meet the plan's eligibility requirements before termination, there is no basis for allowing immediate entry upon rehire.  Check the termination and rehire provisions in the Basic Plan Document.  There would be no recognition of the original service because is was not continuous, there was insufficient hours worked, and the rehire was after the initial ECP.

There likely are other related issue to address like will the individual's ECP shift to the plan year?  Could the plan allow a rehire to start over and use the earlier entry requirements?

BTW, the FTW folks are pretty responsive in pointing out where you can find applicable provisions within their documents.  Once this particular individual's case is decided, you may want to document and preserve the policy to be applied uniformly and consistently in future cases.

[Lou81]

36 minutes ago, Paul I said:

Since the individual meet the plan's eligibility requirements before termination, there is no basis for allowing immediate entry upon rehire.  Check the termination and rehire provisions in the Basic Plan Document.  There would be no recognition of the original service because is was not continuous, there was insufficient hours worked, and the rehire was after the initial ECP.

Thank you.

Paul yes, it is g that is marked.  are you stating that he did meet the eligibility prior to termination?

Thank you for your response.

[Riley Britton]

3 minutes ago, Lou81 said:

Thank you.

Paul yes, it is g that is marked.  are you stating that he did meet the eligibility prior to termination?

Thank you for your response.

Which is what I said - you're welcome! 

[Paul I]

Lou81, I am agreeing with Riley that the individual did not meet eligibility prior to termination. My apologies for the lack of clarity by not thoroughly proofreading my comment.

 

[Lou81]

No problem, Paul! 

Thank you all!