If you leave A&B and are later rehired, you will have a "break in service," unless
you are rehired within 12 months. The impact a break in service will have on your vesting
and/or benefits will vary, depending on whether you are vested when the break occurs, as
explained below.
If You Are Not Yet Vested
If you are not yet vested in the Retirement Plan, but have at least one year of service, and
you are reemployed after less than five years, you will become a participant when you are
rehired and your pre-break service will be restored.
If you have a break in service of five years or more, you will lose the vesting service you
had earned before the break, and you must wait one year before your participation in the
Retirement Plan resumes.
If You Are Vested
If you have a break in service and are vested when you leave A&B, you generally will
not lose any benefits by leaving A&B and then returning. You will resume
participation in the Retirement Plan immediately when you are rehired.
Exceptions To Breaks In Service
If you take an approved leave of absence,
your service will be deemed to continue during the leave, provided you return to work
for A&B at the end of the approved leave. Otherwise, your service will be deemed to
end on the...
-
Date your employment ends for any reason, or
-
First anniversary of the date you were first actually absent from service
... whichever occurs first.
There is, however, one exception to this provision: If you are absent from work due to a
parental leave*, you will have a break in service only if you do not return to active
service within two years after your service ended.
* For the purposes of this provision, a parental leave is one for which you are absent due to
pregnancy, the birth of a child, the placement of a child with you in connection with the
adoption of that child, or caring for a child immediately following the child's birth or
adoption.
If you transfer from one A&B company to another
, your credited vesting service will be transferred to your new plan. If you were
already a participant in the plan sponsored by your previous A&B employer, you will
immediately become a participant in the plan sponsored by your new A&B employer. If
your new A&B employer is not a sponsor under the Retirement Plan, you will not
accrue future Pay Credits – but your accrued benefits will remain in your Cash Balance
Account and be credited with Interest Credits.
If you are absent due to service in the uniformed services of the U.S.,
the period of your absence guaranteed by Federal law will count as service for the
purposes of the Retirement Plan, provided you...
-
Are eligible to participate in the Retirement Plan, and
-
Return to work for the Company before your veteran's reemployment rights end.
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