"The 401k/PS plan has 1 year of service eligibility. Two NHCEs were allowed to defer before meeting the requirement. The plan is going to be amended to allow them to make deferrals but they will not be eligible for PS contributions. Are they required to receive the 5% minimum gateway (Plan is cross tested)?"

"I have what used to be a paired MP-PS plan where we merged the MP into the PS 20 years ago back when that was all the rage. Of course, that MP money is still tracked separately for purposes of making participants who have that money get the proper spousal consent for a distribution.

"Now I've got a participant who is saying that when she Legally Separated from her spouse, as part of the separation agreement he waived all rights to her plan benefits. There is no other plan paperwork to his effect -- I presume he is on the beneficiary form as her beneficiary (which predates the separation agreement). This is a new one to me. Is this legit? I feel pretty confident that she is still considered married for plan purposes, but can the spouse waive his rights that way?"

"EE who was under eligible age (21) was given a PS allocation last year (by small plan owner who thought they understood the plan). This has just been discovered upon annual TPA review. They have already filed their taxes and do not want to 'take money away' from that ee. Must it be an 11g amendment, or possible to change eligibility age from 21 to 20 retroactively for prior plan year?"

"Employee wants to voluntarily drop group health coverage mid plan year (remain an active employee) and enroll in Medicare. The employer allows for this as a Life Event for dropping coverage, but I don't believe this a COBRA event as it is a voluntary drop of coverage and not an actual COBRA event. This in turn will affect the employee's spouse/dependents. Because the CMS website is very generic in this response and my reference materials don't mention voluntary drop, I'm having difficulty in providing information that will satisfy the employee, client, etc."

"Normally, when we assign a signature to a 5500 filing, the signer receives an email from the DOL about signing the return. We found out today that a few clients have not received these emails to sign their 5500. These were all returns over the past month. Anyone else having this issue?"