Which Employees to Pull in Coverage

Hey there. I have a plan failing coverage. So, I'd like to start pulling in ineligible employees, but I'm stuck on which to add. I don't have any more active employees I can add, so I'm looking at termed EEs. My document says the following:

The problem is, all of the EEs had the same number of hours & termed on the same day (part of the business was sold off). 

Can I start bringing them in based on lowest wages? 

This looks similar, but not exact, to our FTW basic document which has the following. Check further down in your document for similar language, which mandates you add all the ties.

(3) Determination of Greatest Amount of Service. For purposes of determining the greatest amount of service, Employees in each group specified in (1)(A)-(C) shall be ranked in order of the greatest number of Hours of Service for each determination period. The Employee with the greatest amount of service shall first be considered a Participant (in the event of Employees with the same number of Hours of Service, all shall be added). If after application of the foregoing, the Plan does still not meet the applicable requirements, the process shall be repeated at each next lower level of service until the applicable test is met.

And I think it has to be that way because a failsafe provision needs to be defined/automatic without employer discretion, which would be available via 11(g) amendment if failsafe was not chosen in AA. 11(g) has requirements of its own (vesting concerns for terminated employees) whereas I don't believe failsafe provisions have that. However, if you have a large group terminated as part of a transaction then you may also have partial termination and associated vesting anyway.

It says right in your highlighted section - "Individuals similarly situated will be treated the same."

It may pull in more than you need, but it's what your document says and it will pass coverage after bringing them in.

19 hours ago, Lou S. said:

Individuals similarly situated will be treated the same.

Yeah, I missed that too before crafting my response, thanks Lou - your eyes must be younger than mine!