Education
Educational organizations get a 26-week rule for treating a returning employee as new, and an averaging rule for employment break periods, so summer breaks do not erase a school year.
The three things to know.
The 26-Week Break
For an educational organization, a break of at least 26 consecutive weeks without an hour of service lets the employer treat the employee as new on return.
Employment Break Periods
Periods such as summer can be excluded from the average or credited, so a school-year employee is not measured as if they had no work in the summer.
Choose a Calendar to Match
Measurement periods that follow the school year, with administrative periods that fit enrollment, make status follow the way work actually happens.
Sources: 26 CFR § 54.4980H-3. General information, not legal advice.
A worked example.
A School-Year Employee
A school’s food-service worker works 32 hours a week for 36 school weeks and has no hours in the summer. The school is an educational organization.
What the Rule Produces
The summer is an employment break period, so the school may exclude it or credit it. Using the school-year average, she is full-time for the stability period. Without the break rule, her 12-month average would be about 22 hours a week.
Four steps to apply it.
1. Define the break
Identify the summer as an employment break period.
2. Choose a treatment
Exclude or credit the weeks.
3. Measure the year
Compute the average with that treatment.
4. Apply the stability period
Hold the result.
Where it goes wrong. Using the ordinary 13-week rehire rule instead of 26 weeks for an educational organization.
The questions that come up next.
Who is an educational organization?
The regulation defines it by reference to the type of institution. Confirm your status with counsel.
Do part-time adjuncts count?
They are measured on hours of service like other employees, with equivalencies where hours are not tracked.
What about public school employees?
Public entities have their own considerations for the mandate. Review with counsel.
Do substitute teachers count?
They are measured on hours of service like other employees.
Does a long summer count as a break in service?
For educational organizations the break must reach 26 weeks to be treated as new employment.
Plan-specific questions belong with ERISA counsel, and we will bring them in.
Related pages on the look-back method.
Staffing and Temporary Work
The regulation includes specific examples for temporary placements.
Seasonal Operations
Workers hired for a position with customary annual employment of six months or less can be treated as seasonal for new-hire measurement.
The Full Look-Back Guide
Every rule, example and source behind this page, in one place.
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