Beginning in 2024, employers and plan sponsors will need to implement new minimum eligibility rules, enacted by the SECURE and SECURE 2.0 Acts, that significantly expand eligibility for long-term, part-time employees to participate in employer-sponsored retirement plans.
The new rules require that employers who maintain such plans provide employees who work at least 500 hours for three consecutive years (reduced to two in 2025), and are at least age 21, the opportunity to make elective deferrals under their 401(k) plans beginning in 2024 and their 403(b) plans beginning in 2025. This change has generated numerous questions about what employers need to do to comply.
