Shared employees present an uncomfortable situation for retirement plans and those who administer them. They pose difficult questions relating to who is the employer, and how to compute hours of service and compensation. Unfortunately, most of the guidance on this issue predates ERISA.
Q 5:1 What is a shared employee?
Q 5:2 Who is the employer of shared employees? How are hours
of service credited?
Q 5:3 How is a shared employee’s compensation determined for
each of his or her employers?
Q 5:4 Would the proposed §414(o) regulations have handled
shared employees differently?
Q 5:5 What strategies exist for dealing with shared employee
situations?
Q 5:6 Can there be shared leased employees?