To earn a Year of Service, you must be credited with at least 1000 Hours of Service during any Plan Year. (See the Article in this SPD entitled “Hours of Service” for an explanation of Hour of Service.) The Plan contains specific rules for crediting Hours of Service for vesting purposes. The Administrator will track your service and will credit you with a Year of Service for each Plan Year in which you are credited with the required Hours of Service, in accordance with the terms of the Plan. If you have any questions regarding your vesting service, you should contact the Administrator. Does all my service count for vesting purposes? In calculating your vested percentage, all service you perform for us will generally be counted. However, there are some exceptions to this general rule. Break in Service rules. If you terminate employment and are rehired, you may “lose” credit for prior service under the Plan’s Break in Service rules. For vesting purposes, you will have a Break in Service if you complete less than 501 Hours of Service during the computation period used to determine whether you have a Year of Service. However, if you are absent from work for certain leaves of absence such as maternity or paternity leave, you may be credited with 501 Hours of Service to prevent a Break in Service. Five-year Break in Service rule. The five-year Break in Service rule applies only to totally nonvested (0% vested) participants. If you are totally nonvested in your benefits resulting from our contributions and you have five consecutive Breaks in Service (as defined above), all the service you earned before the 5-year period no longer counts for vesting purposes. Thus, if you return to employment after incurring five consecutive Breaks in Service, you will be treated as a new employee (with no prior service) for purposes of determining your vested percentage under the Plan. However, if you have benefits under the Plan resulting from our contributions which are vested, you do not lose any rights to those benefits under these rules. Does my service with another Employer count for vesting purposes? For vesting purposes, your Years of Service with the Cates Company, or with any of the 23 apartment properties managed by the Cates Company, which were merged into Mid-America Apartments, L.P. as a part of the initial formation of Mid-America Apartments, L.P. will be recognized. As a veteran, will my military service count as service with the Employer? If you are a veteran and are reemployed under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, your qualified military service may be considered service with us. If If you had no vested percentage in your account balance when you left, your account balance was forfeited. However, if you return to service with us before incurring 5 consecutive 1-Year Breaks in Service, or if the number of 1-Year Breaks exceed the number of pre-break years of service, your account balance as of your termination date will be restored unadjusted for any gains or losses. If you were partially vested in your account balance when you left, the non-vested portion of your account balance will be forfeited on the earlier of the date: (a) of the distribution of your entire vested account balance, or (b) when you incur 5 consecutive 1-Year Breaks in Service. you may be affected by this law, ask your Administrator for further details. What happens to my non-vested account balance if I’m rehired?
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