What to know (and do) about the 'confusing' SECURE 2.0 part-time employee provision

SECURE 2.0 Act

The passage of SECURE 2.0 has brought significant fanfare and a lot of excitement for many of us in the retirement industry. One of the main goals of the bill is to give more Americans greater access to retirement savings vehicles. I think most would say that many of the bill’s 92 separate provisions do just that; however, those provisions have multiple different effective dates, their fair share of wrinkles, and (as with any far-reaching piece of legislation) a number of questions that still need to be hammered out.

One key provision, entitled “Improving Coverage for Part-Time Workers,” is outlined in Section 125 of the bill. For plan sponsors and advisors to understand how this provision works and how it will affect them, I think it’s important to go back to SECURE 1.0. As we all remember, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was passed in December 2019, and it also included a section on providing plan eligibility to “long-term” part-time employees.