Can you define a Break in Service as 12 months working <1,000 hours

As the title says I just came across a plan document that defines a Break in Service as any year the participant works <1,000 hours. 

I don't recall ever seeing the number of hours being more than the <501.   

I have tried looking up the code and regulations and I see nothing that allows it that high number of hours.    

Thanks in advance. 

Is the plan a governmental plan? A church plan that has not elected to be ERISA-governed? A plan that covers no employee? Or an ERISA-governed plan?

It is an ESOP so it is an ERISA governed plan.   

ERISA § 404(a)(1)(D)’s “insofar” phrase calls a plan’s administrator (and other fiduciaries) to ignore a document provision that’s inconsistent with an ERISA title I command. Instead, one administers the plan as though it provides what ERISA’s title I commands.

ERISA § 202 begins with “No pension plan may require . . . .” ERISA § 203 begins with “Each pension plan shall provide . . . .”

For a plan governed by part 2 of subtitle B of title I of ERISA, for minimum participation or nonforfeitability an administrator would determine a break in service as no more restrictive than ERISA § 203(b)(3)(A) permits—that is, a year “during which the participant has not completed more than 500 hours of service.”

This is not advice to anyone.

Interesting Q.  After reviewing the definition of BIS in IRC 411(a)(6)(A), and then reading how that definition is applied in subsequent subparagraphs, my suggested answer is NO.   

I wonder if the questioner has inquired about this unusual provision, specifically asking whoever wrote the document originally if that person/law firm can defend or explain.

We will ask the client to ask the attorney about that provision. 

Thanks for your help!

Assuming (always risky) that the plan in question applies its defined Break In Service (<1000 hours) anywhere where breaks in service are used (determining years of service for eligibility, or vesting, or benefit accrual), then I agree the answer is No.  Breaks in service using hours for these purposes are based on no more than 500 hours (or a lower number if an alternative method of calculating hours of service is used).  Let's also keep in mind the a plan does not have to use break in service rules (i.e., a Break in Service is 0  hours.)

If the plan defined the term Break in Service (<1000 hours) and used it solely in place of some other provisions (like eligibility for an allocation), then this is very poor and misleading plan drafting - essentially replacing a widely understood term of art with a narrowly applicable alternative definition.