BIS and Rehire

[Guest russo40]

I have trouble totally understanding the BIS rules, if an employee only satisfied the YOS, so never contributed to the plan before termination does he retain the YOS at rehire, also, does he retain the YOS if the rehire is greated than 5 years. thanks for the help

[R. Butler]

Break in Service rules are defined in the document. You need to read the specific document in question. You need to pay attention to two sections in particular; when the participant would enter and YOS retained for vesting.

At a minimum a nonvested participant's YOS before any period of 1 year BIS may be disregarded for vesting only if the number of consecutive 1 year BIS exceeds the greater of 5 or the participant's YOS before the break.

Whether or not an employee actually contributes is irrelevant to whether he/she is a participant.