|
U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 4318. Employee pension benefit plans
(a)(1)(A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), in the case of
a right provided pursuant to an employee pension benefit plan
(including those described in sections 3(2) and 3(33) of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) or a right
provided under any Federal or State law governing pension benefits
for governmental employees, the right to pension benefits of a
person reemployed under this chapter shall be determined under this
section.
(B) In the case of benefits under the Thrift Savings Plan, the
rights of a person reemployed under this chapter shall be those
rights provided in section 8432b of title 5. The first sentence of
this subparagraph shall not be construed to affect any other right
or benefit under this chapter.
(2)(A) A person reemployed under this chapter shall be treated as
not having incurred a break in service with the employer or
employers maintaining the plan by reason of such person's period or
periods of service in the uniformed services.
(B) Each period served by a person in the uniformed services
shall, upon reemployment under this chapter, be deemed to
constitute service with the employer or employers maintaining the
plan for the purpose of determining the nonforfeitability of the
person's accrued benefits and for the purpose of determining the
accrual of benefits under the plan.
(b)(1) An employer reemploying a person under this chapter shall,
with respect to a period of service described in subsection
(a)(2)(B), be liable to an employee pension benefit plan for
funding any obligation of the plan to provide the benefits
described in subsection (a)(2) and shall allocate the amount of any
employer contribution for the person in the same manner and to the
same extent the allocation occurs for other employees during the
period of service. For purposes of determining the amount of such
liability and any obligation of the plan, earnings and forfeitures
shall not be included. For purposes of determining the amount of
such liability and for purposes of section 515 of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or any similar Federal or
State law governing pension benefits for governmental employees,
service in the uniformed services that is deemed under subsection
(a) to be service with the employer shall be deemed to be service
with the employer under the terms of the plan or any applicable
collective bargaining agreement. In the case of a multiemployer
plan, as defined in section 3(37) of the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act of 1974, any liability of the plan described in this
paragraph shall be allocated -
(A) by the plan in such manner as the sponsor maintaining the
plan shall provide; or
(B) if the sponsor does not provide -
(i) to the last employer employing the person before the
period served by the person in the uniformed services, or
(ii) if such last employer is no longer functional, to the
plan.
(2) A person reemployed under this chapter shall be entitled to
accrued benefits pursuant to subsection (a) that are contingent on
the making of, or derived from, employee contributions or elective
deferrals (as defined in section 402(g)(3) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986) only to the extent the person makes payment to the
plan with respect to such contributions or deferrals. No such
payment may exceed the amount the person would have been permitted
or required to contribute had the person remained continuously
employed by the employer throughout the period of service described
in subsection (a)(2)(B). Any payment to the plan described in this
paragraph shall be made during the period beginning with the date
of reemployment and whose duration is three times the period of the
person's service in the uniformed services, such payment period not
to exceed five years.
(3) For purposes of computing an employer's liability under
paragraph (1) or the employee's contributions under paragraph (2),
the employee's compensation during the period of service described
in subsection (a)(2)(B) shall be computed -
(A) at the rate the employee would have received but for the
period of service described in subsection (a)(2)(B), or
(B) in the case that the determination of such rate is not
reasonably certain, on the basis of the employee's average rate
of compensation during the 12-month period immediately preceding
such period (or, if shorter, the period of employment immediately
preceding such period).
(c) Any employer who reemploys a person under this chapter and
who is an employer contributing to a multiemployer plan, as defined
in section 3(37) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974, under which benefits are or may be payable to such person by
reason of the obligations set forth in this chapter, shall, within
30 days after the date of such reemployment, provide information,
in writing, of such reemployment to the administrator of such plan.
|
|