Missing participant records

Any advice for an employer/plan sponsor that says they don’t have records for certain rehires of a company they acquired a few years ago. So for example they hire an employee who says I used to work here - but employer cannot find records of prior work history to determine if they completed service for vesting - they have a 5 year schedule.The HR contact did mention there are boxes of hard copy data that I guess would be very hard to sort through. Employee does not have a current account balance in the plan. Can the employer be required to provide W2 or information of prior employment or any plan benefit information? Thanks!

Did they buy the stock or assets of the acquired company?

@Bill Presson is asking about the type of acquisition since, in a stock acquisition, the employees of the acquired company became employees of the employer/plan sponsor and the plan would recognize any work history of an employee that worked for the prior company.  Similarly, it the acquisition was an asset acquisition, the employees of the prior company were considered terminated from employment by the prior company and then hired as new employees by the employer/plan sponsor, so the work history in the prior company is not recognized.  

Regardless of the type of acquisition, if the current plan document recognizes the service with the acquired company, then that service with the prior company will count.  Look for provisions in the plan document regarding predecessor service.  The provisions may be in one place in the plan document and indicate if the predecessor service is recognized for eligibility, vesting or allocations, or the provisions may appear separately in the section for each of the types of service.

Assuming that the circumstances of the acquisition or the provisions of the plan document require consideration of the employee's prior service, the employer/plan sponsor cannot disregard the employee's assertion that the employee worked for the prior company because it would be an inconvenience to try to find it.  The employer/plan sponsor would be best served by working with the employee to find the documentation.  

For example, the employee could provide details about when they worked, in what location where they worked, who they worked with/for and what was their title/job description.  This information could reinforce the employee's case and also help locate documentation.

If the employee has kept old tax returns, they may have W-2s issued from the prior employer.  If the employee does not, the employee can ask the IRS for copies of their past W-2s (or at least a transcript of their tax information) by follow the steps on the IRS website: https://www.irs.gov/faqs/irs-procedures/copies-transcripts/transcript-or-copy-of-form-w-2

If the employee had participated in a prior employer's plan, the prior employer's plan service provider may have retained information about the employee.

If the employer/plan sponsor has copies of compliance tests that were performed for the prior employer's plan, the employee's information likely is available in the details of those tests.

What the employer/plan sponsor should want to avoid is the employee filing a claim for benefits that is rejected and then having the employee involve the DOL.

It was stock - board control in the tax exempt world. So buyer treated as the new owner - not an asset purchase. I agree with what you are saying above and appreciate the tips etc. I will pass on to the sponsor. Thank you!