A propspective New Comparability plan is considering the following groups:

Group A = Director of Finance (NHCE)

Group B = Highly Compensated Employees, Employees with at least 20 Years of service, or Employees over age 55 who participated in the prior Defined Benefit Plan.

Group C = NHCE with at least 10 years but less than 20 years of service
Group D = All other employees

Is the age 55 with prior DB participation requirement discriminatory?? Any other comments are appreciated. Thanks.

if the director of finance has less than 20 years of service then he is in 2 groups?

Thanks Tom. We are currently working on group descriptions so they don't overlap, but my main concern is do you think the "age 55 with participation in prior DB plan" is discriminatory?? Thanks again.

Why would it be discriminatory?

I have always been a bit uncomfortable about using ages. If the protected class is those who are over a certain age (such as 40) then the provision you are talking about discriminates against those between 40 and 55. Yes, it discriminates in favor of those who are older (not as bad as discriminating against those who are younger), which may be something that is not viewed as age discrimination (at least not viewed as prohibited age discrimination).

Let a lawyer make the call.

I second Mike's comments. I do seem to recall some discussion on a message thread quite a while ago where it said that plan provisions that were acceptable for plan testing purposes could still run afoul of ADEA requirements. Or something in that general vein.

Of course, discriminating against young people due to age is almost always ok in this country. Why? Because, of course, the knuckleheads making the laws are older so it doesn't affect them, and the young folks largely don't have the money to buy off Congress the way the better heeled older crowd does. Gosh, I'm being awfully cynical for a Friday. I'd better get a cup of coffee and improve my attitude!