How are my years of service determined in regard to vesting in a 401(k) plan?
Many employers who make matching contributions to their workers’ 401(k) plans require employees to work a specified number of years before they’re entitled to collect the money that the employer has contributed. This process is called vesting and companies base their vesting on the worker’s years of service to the company. By law, you must be fully vested, in other words, be entitled to all the funds your company has contributed to your 401(k) plan-after you fulfill the required years of service applicable to your plan. Your employer can use one of two following methods to determine your years of service. >In the first, your years of service are determined by the number of hours you actually worked in a 12-month period. You must be credited with a year’s service for any 12-month period in which you worked at least 1,000 hours. This allows you earn a year of service in less than 12 months if you reach the required 1,000 hours prior to 12 calendar months elapsing. >The second way to calc
