Control group

If 2 plans are part of a control group, but on occasion an employee might be terminated from one plan and hired in another, is that a distributable event?

Can they roll their balance from one plan to the other? 

To nitpick the terminology a little: plans are not part of a controlled group. Employers can be members of a controlled group. I assume what you meant to say is that employers A and B are in a controlled group together, they each sponsor their own plan, and neither plan covers employees of other members of the controlled group.

Members of a controlled group are considered a single employer for most purposes. Therefore the employee who left company A and was hired at company B has not experienced a distributable event because they have not had a separation from employment. The fact that they are no longer eligible to participate in company A's plan does not make it a distributable event.

4 hours ago, C. B. Zeller said:

To nitpick the terminology a little: plans are not part of a controlled group. Employers can be members of a controlled group. I assume what you meant to say is that employers A and B are in a controlled group together, they each sponsor their own plan, and neither plan covers employees of other members of the controlled group.

Members of a controlled group are considered a single employer for most purposes. Therefore the employee who left company A and was hired at company B has not experienced a distributable event because they have not had a separation from employment. The fact that they are no longer eligible to participate in company A's plan does not make it a distributable event.

Agreed.  We would normally have it as a single plan, but this scenario is possible as well.