You are rehired
If you leave the company and are later rehired as an eligible employee, you will be automatically enrolled at 7% on a before-tax basis as soon as administratively possible starting with your first paycheck on or after your 30th day of employment. If you do not want to participate, you can change your contribution rate to 0% within the first 30 days of your employment, or you can adjust your contribution rate to any whole percentage between 1% and 80%, as appropriate for you. Unless you choose a different investment option, your savings plan account will be invested in the Target Date Fund (TDF) nearest to your retirement date (assumed to be age 65). To enroll online or by phone, contact BP Retirement Services at Fidelity at 1-877-272-3334.
However, some special rules apply for calculating your vesting service after you have been rehired. If all or a part of your company matching contributions were previously forfeited because you left the company before you were fully vested, in some cases the forfeited amount may be restored to your account.
Calculating your service after rehire
In general:
- If you were 100% vested in your account when you left, you’ll be 100% vested after your return, regardless of your service.
- If you were at least partially vested in your account when you left, all of your prior service will be recognized by the plan for vesting purposes, regardless of how long you were gone.
- If you were not vested in your account when you left, the treatment of your prior service depends on how long you were away from BP.
- If your absence from employment was less than one year, there is no break in service and the time you were absent will be recognized by the plan for vesting purposes.
- If your break in service was at least one year but less than seven years, all of your prior years of service will be counted toward vesting in your company matching contributions after you return to the company.
- If your break in service was seven years or more, none of your prior service will be counted for vesting purposes and you will begin earning vesting service again on your rehire date.
Special provisions for BP heritage participants
If you are a BP heritage participant who left the company before April 7, 2000, were rehired after that date and your absence was less than seven years, the forfeited amount restored to you depends on whether you took a complete distribution of your company matching contributions when you left:
- If you did not take a distribution:
- Your account will be adjusted as if it had been invested in the Income Fund since the date of forfeiture.
Upon your rehire, your company matching contributions will be invested according to your new investment election for employee contributions.
- If you took a distribution:
- You must repay the full amount of that distribution in cash before the forfeited amounts are restored.
- You must make this repayment within five years of your rehire date.
- The amount restored will be the amount that was originally forfeited, without any adjustment for investment gains or losses since the date of forfeiture.
Amounts previously forfeited after an absence of seven or more years won’t be restored.
Restoring forfeitures
If all or a part of your company matching contribution source was previously forfeited because you left the company before you were fully vested, in some cases the forfeited amount may be restored to your account. In general, if you’re rehired and had previously forfeited all or a portion of your company matching contributions, your previously forfeited amounts will be restored to your plan account if your absence was less than seven years.
The amount restored will be the amount that was originally forfeited, without any adjustment for investment gains or losses since the date of forfeiture.