My question is if you have a company wide 401k and in the beginning they matched 50 cents on the dollar then switched it to dollar for dollar but never told some of the employees must they honor it and give it to all employees under the Company wide 401k policy

Hello worker:

I wouldn't think so. As long as the company kept their agreement with YOU, any OTHER agreement they may have with other employees doesn't really have anything to do with you...

Unless you can find a memo or something that states the higher match would be "company wide".

excon

It's their agreement with you that matters, not their agreement with anyone else.

(Please only post your question once.)

I believe that 401K provisions have to be applied equally to all employees. Also, any changes to the plan MUST be communicated to all participants and employees.

Anything else would be a violation of ERISA and the tax regs.

This will have to be researched - I believe that employers can have different arrangements with different employees at different times, particularly if there are employment contracts involved. The fact that one is hired with, say, 25% contribution doesn't mean that three years later that can't be changed to 50% for new employees.

Off to see if I can find something.

Plan provisions can be different for differnent classes of employee. For example an employee with 5 years of service may get a different match. If there are union contracts, these usually mean separate plans.

But all employees still need to be treated equally under the terms of the plan. The company can't arbitraily treat some employees differently. If different treatements are given they have to be codified in the plan provisions.

OK - I believe you. Makes sense.