In a plan with a two-year eligibility rule, if one year of service is completed and the employee leaves and is then rehired eight years later, is the initial year of service counted? Rev. 03-14-03

Yes. Article II.1.b. of our basic plan document states that “Except as otherwise provided in the Adoption Agreement, all Years of Service will be counted for purposes of determining whether an Employee has satisfied the Plan’s Service eligibility requirement, if any.” The “Except as otherwise provided in the Adoption Agreement” phrase allows for employee class exclusions.

Note that this plan provision is more liberal than required under the law, which allows the first year to be disregarded if a break in service occurs before the second year is completed.