Combo plan - union employee gateway

Hi

Asking for a friend as I do not work with plans that have union employees

DC/CB combo.

Union employees excluded from CB

Union employees only eligible for 401k deferral+SH and excluded from PS (both union and non-union are covered under one plan)

Does union employee get a gateway?

Can they be tested totally separately?

Any insights are appreciated.

Thanks

Union employees* are a mandatory disaggregation population. They must be treated as a separate plan for coverage and nondiscrimination testing, and may not be aggregated with the portion of the plan covering non-union employees.

Of course, I am using the term "union employee" as shorthand for "an employee who is included in a unit of employees covered by an agreement that the Secretary of Labor finds to be a collective bargaining agreement between employee representatives and one or more employers, provided that there is evidence that retirement benefits were the subject of good faith bargaining between employee representatives and the employer or employers" (from 1.410(b)-6(d)(2)). If this definition applies in your friend's case, then there would be no aggregation for testing, and no gateway needed for these people.

7 minutes ago, C. B. Zeller said:

... provided that there is evidence that retirement benefits were the subject of good faith bargaining between employee representatives and the employer or employers" 

There are cases where a union exists, but no bargaining was done w/r/t a retirement plan (DB, DC, etc.).  If this is the case, the sponsor needs legal counsel review to determine if the quoted section above is applicable.