How are groups of similarly situated individuals determined?
Distinctions among groups of similarly situated participants in a health plan must be based on bona-fide employment-based classifications consistent with the employers usual business practice. Distinctions cannot be based on any of the health factors noted earlier. For example, part-time and full-time employees, employees working in different geographic locations, and employees with different dates of hire or lengths of service can be treated as distinct groups of similarly situated individuals, with different eligibility provisions, different benefit restrictions, or different costs, provided the distinction is consistent with the employers usual business practice. In addition, a plan generally may treat participants and beneficiaries as two separate groups of similarly situated participants. The plan also may distinguish between beneficiaries based on, for example, their relationship to the plan participant (such as spouse or dependent child) or based on the age or student status of
