Expert: Allen - 10/6/2008

Question
I have heard that if a person is working for a company with a pension plan that they need only 3 years of service to qualify. If that is true what if I worked for a company from 1997-2001, and they have a pension plan could I qualify? I know that I was a few months short of the 5 years at that time, but are their any grandfather clauses to this??? Thank you for your help

Answer
I believe you may be confusing two concepts - eligibility and vesting.
Eligibility refers to how long you have to be with a company before you can participate in the plan. In most cases this is a year or less. The longest it can be is two years.
Vesting refers to the period that you have to be with the company before you are entitled to receive a benefit from the plan when you leave. In some cases this is two years. In others it's three years or five years. Someone who leaves before they are vested has earned a benefit. However, the benefit is forfeited.
I would contact the plan administrator for the plan or the human resources department of the company to see if you have a vested benefit.