§ 2530.210 Employer or employers maintaining the plan.

(a) General statutory provisions—(1) Eligibility to participate and vesting. Except as otherwise provided in section 202(b) or 203(b)(1) of the Act and sections 410(a)(5), 411(a)(5) and 411(a)(6) of the Code, all years of service with the employer or employers maintaining the plan shall be taken into account for purposes of section 202 of the Act and section 410 of the Code (relating to minimum eligibility standards) and section 203 of the Act and section 411(a) of the Code (relating to minimum vesting standards).

(2) Accrual of benefits. Except as otherwise provided in section 202(b) of the Act and section 410(a)(5) of the Code, all years of participation under the plan must be taken into account for purposes of section 204 of the Act and section 411(b) of the Code (relating to benefit accrual). Section 204(b) of the Act and section 411(b) of the Code require only that periods of actual participation in the plan (e.g., covered service) be taken into account for purposes of benefit accrual.

(b) General rules concerning service to be credited under this section. Section 210 of the Act and sections 413(c), 414(b), and 414(c) of the Code provide rules applicable to sections 202, 203, and 204 of the Act and sections 410, 411(a), and 411(b) of the Code for purposes of determining who is an “employer or employers maintaining the plan” and, accordingly, what service is required to be taken into account in the case of a plan maintained by more than one employer. Paragraphs (c) through (e) of this section set forth the rules for determining service required to be taken into account in the case of a plan or plans maintained by multiple employers, controlled groups of corporations and trades or businesses under common control. Note throughout that every mention of multiple employer plans includes multiemployer plans. See § 2530.210(c)(3). Paragraph (f) of this section sets forth special break in service rules for such plans. Paragraph (g) of this section applies the break in service rules of sections 202(b)(4) and 203(b)(3)(D) of the Act and sections 410(a)(5)(D) and 411(a)(6)(D) of the Code (rule of parity) to such plans.

(c) Multiple employer plans—(1) Eligibility to participate and vesting. A multiple employer plan shall be treated as if all maintaining employers constitute a single employer so long as an employee is employed in either covered service or contiguous noncovered service. Accordingly, except as referred to in paragraph (a)(1) and provided in paragraph (f) of this section, in determining an employee's service for eligibility to participate and vesting purposes, all covered service with an employer or employers maintaining the plan and all contiguous noncovered service with an employer or employers maintaining the plan shall be taken into account. Thus, for example, if an employee in service covered under a multiple employer plan leaves covered service with one employer maintaining the plan and is employed immediately thereafter in covered service with another employer maintaining the plan, the plan is required to credit all hours of service with both employers for purposes of participation and vesting. If an employee moves from contiguous noncovered to covered service, or from covered service to contiguous noncovered service, with the same employer, the plan is required to credit all hours of service with such employer for purposes of eligibility to participate and vesting.

(2) Benefit accrual. A multiple employer plan shall be treated as if all maintaining employers constitute a single employer so long as an employee is employed in covered service. Accordingly, except as referred to in paragraph (a)(2) and provided in paragraph (f) of this section, in determining a participant's service for benefit accrual purposes, all covered service with an employer or employers maintaining the plan shall be taken into account.