II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3751 

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the 

Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve retirement plan coverage 

for part-time workers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 3, 2022 

Mr. CASEY (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act 

of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 

improve retirement plan coverage for part-time workers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. IMPROVING COVERAGE FOR PART-TIME WORK4 ERS. 

5 (a) AMENDMENTS TO EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT IN6 COME SECURITY ACT OF 1974.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 202 of the Employee 

8 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 


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1 1052) is amended by adding at the end the following 

2 new subsection: 

3 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN PART-TIME EM4 PLOYEES.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A pension plan that in6 cludes either a qualified cash or deferred arrange7 ment (as defined in section 401(k) of the Internal 

8 Revenue Code of 1986) or a salary reduction agree9 ment (as described in section 403(b) of such Code) 

10 shall not require, as a condition of participation in 

11 the arrangement or agreement, that an employee 

12 complete a period of service with the employer (or 

13 employers) maintaining the plan extending beyond 

14 the close of the earlier of— 

15 ‘‘(A) the period permitted under subsection 

16 (a)(1) (determined without regard to subpara17 graph (B)(i) thereof); or 

18 ‘‘(B) the first 24-month period— 

19 ‘‘(i) consisting of 2 consecutive 12- 

20 month periods during each of which the 

21 employee has at least 500 hours of service; 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(ii) by the close of which the em24 ployee has attained the age of 21. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1)(B) shall not 

2 apply to any employee described in section 410(b)(3) 

3 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

4 ‘‘(3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER RULES.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of employ6 ees who are eligible to participate in the ar7 rangement or agreement solely by reason of 

8 paragraph (1)(B): 

9 ‘‘(i) EXCLUSIONS.—An employer may 

10 elect to exclude such employees from the 

11 application of subsections (a)(4), (k)(3), 

12 (k)(12), (k)(13), (k)(15)(B)(i)(I), and 

13 (m)(2) of section 401 of the Internal Rev14 enue Code of 1986 and section 410(b) of 

15 such Code. 

16 ‘‘(ii) TIME OF PARTICIPATION.—The 

17 rules of subsection (a)(4) shall apply with 

18 respect to such employees. 

19 ‘‘(B) TOP-HEAVY RULES.—An employer 

20 may elect to exclude all employees who are eligi21 ble to participate in a plan maintained by the 

22 employer solely by reason of paragraph (1)(B) 

23 from the application of the vesting and benefit 

24 requirements under subsections (b) and (c) of 


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1 section 416 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

2 1986. 

3 ‘‘(4) 12-MONTH PERIOD.—For purposes of this 

4 subsection, 12-month periods shall be determined in 

5 the same manner as under the last sentence of sub6 section (a)(3)(A), except that 12-month periods be7 ginning before January 1, 2022, shall not be taken 

8 into account.’’. 

9 (2) VESTING.—Section 203(b) of the Employee 

10 Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

11 1053(a)) is amended by redesignating paragraph (4) 

12 as paragraph (5) and by inserting after paragraph 

13 (3) the following new paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(4) PART-TIME EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of 

15 determining whether an employee who is eligible to 

16 participate in a qualified cash or deferred arrange17 ment or a salary reduction agreement under a plan 

18 solely by reason of section 202(c)(1)(B) has a non19 forfeitable right to employer contributions— 

20 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

21 (B), each 12-month period for which the em22 ployee has at least 500 hours of service shall be 

23 treated as a year of service; 

24 ‘‘(B) paragraph (3) shall be applied by 

25 substituting ‘at least 500 hours of service’ for 


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1 ‘more than 500 hours of service’ in subpara2 graph (A) thereof; and 

3 ‘‘(C) 12-month periods occurring before 

4 the 24-month period described in section 

5 202(c)(1)(B) shall not be treated as years of 

6 service. 

7 For purposes of this paragraph, 12-month periods 

8 shall be determined in the same manner as under 

9 the last sentence of section 202(a)(3)(A), except that 

10 12-month periods beginning before January 1, 2022, 

11 shall not be taken into account.’’. 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO INTERNAL REV13 ENUE CODE OF 1986.—Section 410(a) of the Internal 

14 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 

15 the following new paragraphs: 

16 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN PART-TIME

17 EMPLOYEES.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a plan 

19 that includes either a qualified cash or deferred 

20 arrangement (as defined in section 401(k)), a 

21 trust of which such plan is a part shall not con22 stitute a qualified trust under section 401(a) if 

23 the plan requires, as a condition of participa24 tion in the plan or arrangement, that an em25 ployee complete a period of service with the emVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:59 Mar 05, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3751.IS S3751

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1 ployer (or employers) maintaining the plan ex2 tending beyond the close of the earlier of— 

3 ‘‘(i) the period permitted under para4 graph (1) (determined without regard to 

5 subparagraph (B)(i) thereof), or 

6 ‘‘(ii) the first 24-month period— 

7 ‘‘(I) consisting of 2 consecutive 

8 12-month periods during each of 

9 which the employee has at least 500 

10 hours of service, and 

11 ‘‘(II) by the close of which the 

12 employee has attained the age of 21. 

13 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A)(ii) 

14 shall not apply to any employee described in 

15 subsection (b)(3). 

16 ‘‘(C) COORDINATION WITH OTHER

17 RULES.— 

18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of em19 ployees who are eligible to participate in 

20 the arrangement or agreement solely by 

21 reason of subparagraph (A)(ii)— 

22 ‘‘(I) EXCLUSIONS.—An employer 

23 may elect to exclude such employees 

24 from the application of subsection (b) 

25 and of subsections (a)(4), (k)(3), 


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1 (k)(12), (k)(13), (k)(15)(B)(i)(I), and 

2 (m)(2) of section 401. 

3 ‘‘(II) TIME OF PARTICIPATION.— 

4 The rules of paragraph (4) shall apply 

5 with respect to such employees. 

6 ‘‘(ii) TOP-HEAVY RULES.—An em7 ployer may elect to exclude all employees 

8 who are eligible to participate in a plan 

9 maintained by the employer solely by rea10 son of subparagraph (A)(ii) from the appli11 cation of the vesting and benefit require12 ments under subsections (b) and (c) of sec13 tion 416. 

14 ‘‘(D) 12-MONTH PERIOD.—For purposes of 

15 this paragraph, 12-month periods shall be de16 termined in the same manner as under the last 

17 sentence of paragraph (3)(A), except that 12- 

18 month periods beginning before January 1, 

19 2022, shall not be taken into account. 

20 ‘‘(7) PART-TIME EMPLOYEES.—For purposes of 

21 determining whether an employee who is eligible to 

22 participate in a qualified cash or deferred arrange23 ment or a salary reduction agreement under a plan 

24 solely by reason of paragraph (6)(A)(ii) has a non25 forfeitable right to employer contributions— 


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1 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subparagraph 

2 (B), each 12-month period for which the em3 ployee has at least 500 hours of service shall be 

4 treated as a year of service, 

5 ‘‘(B) section 411(a)(6) shall be applied by 

6 substituting ‘at least 500 hours of service’ for 

7 ‘more than 500 hours of service’ in subpara8 graph (A) thereof, and 

9 ‘‘(C) 12-month periods occurring before 

10 the 24-month period described in paragraph 

11 (6)(A)(ii) shall not be treated as years of serv12 ice. 

13 For purposes of this paragraph, 12-month periods 

14 shall be determined in the same manner as under 

15 paragraph (6)(D).’’. 

16 (c) PRE-2021 SERVICE.—Section 112(b) of the Set17 ting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement 

18 Act of 2019 (26 U.S.C. 401 note) is amended by striking 

19 ‘‘section 401(k)(2)(D)(ii)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs 

20 (2)(D)(ii) and (15)(B)(iii) of section 401(k)’’. 

21 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

22 this section shall apply to plan years beginning after the 

23 date which is 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

24 this Act. 

Æ 


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