Eligibility and Participation
This section describes how you become eligible and participate in the plan.
In general, if you are an Employee of a Participating Employer other than a Short-Term Employee, you are eligible to begin participating in the Plan after you have completed 30 Days of Service with an Affiliated Employer. Definition of Day of Service describes how days of service are determined. If you terminate employment before becoming a Participant in the Plan, your Days of Service prior to your termination from employment will be maintained if you are rehired within five years of your termination (or such longer period as may be required by applicable law). However, when five years have passed since your termination, your pre-termination Days of Service will be forfeited.
If you are a Short-Term Employee, in general you are eligible to begin participating in the Plan after you complete a Year of Service.
If you are an Employee of a corporation acquired by the Company or an Affiliated Employer that was not previously an Affiliated Employer, you will not be eligible to participate until the acquired corporation becomes a Participating Employer.
However, if you fall within any of the following categories, you are not eligible to participate in the Plan:
- An Employee who has not reached age 21;
- Any person who is supplied to a Participating Employer by or through employment, leasing, or temporary service agencies and who is paid by or through an agency or third party (even if that person is later found to be a common law employee of a Participating Employer by a court or agency);
- Any person classified or treated by a Participating Employer as an independent contractor (even if that person is later found to be a common law employee of a Participating Employer by a court or agency);
- An Employee who participates in the employee benefit programs of Canon USA, Inc. or any of its non-U.S. subsidiaries;
- An Employee who is a member of a unit of employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement to which a Participating Employer is a party and which does not specifically provide for the coverage of such employees under the Plan;
- An Employee who is a nonresident alien receiving no earned income from sources within the United States; or
- An Employee who is eligible to participate in another tax-qualified defined contribution plan sponsored by an Affiliated Employer.
Once you have satisfied the Plan's eligibility requirements, you may elect to become a Participant by contacting the Plan's voice response system at 800-922-9945 or by using the Plan's interactive web site at rps.troweprice.com. T. Rowe Price is currently the Plan's recordkeeper. Once you make the election, your participation in the Plan will commence as soon as administratively practicable. You may also become a Participant through the Plan's automatic enrollment provisions, described below. If, prior to your election to participate or your automatic enrollment, you are eligible to participate in the Plan and are credited with an employer discretionary contribution, you will become a Participant on the date that an Account is established to hold such contribution.
If you are hired or rehired by a Participating Employer, you will be automatically enrolled in the Plan once you satisfy the Plan's eligibility requirements. Written notice of your pending automatic enrollment will be mailed to you at least 30 days prior to the effective date of your automatic enrollment in the Plan.
If you do nothing after receiving your automatic enrollment notice letter, your Plan contributions will begin as soon as administratively practicable following the automatic enrollment date specified in your enrollment letter. Contribution amounts will be withheld from your paycheck and contributed to your Account. You will be defaulted to an 8% elective deferral contribution percentage (as explained in "Elective Deferral Contributions"). If you do not make an investment election pursuant to Investments, your contributions will be invested in the qualified default investment fund listed in your automatic enrollment notice letter.
If you wish to select a different elective deferral contribution percentage, change the investment fund(s) in which your contributions are elected, or opt-out of participating in the Plan before or after your automatic enrollment goes into effect, you may do so via the Plan's voice response system at 800-922-9945 or by using the Plan's interactive web site at rps.troweprice.com.
Please note, the automatic enrollment rules will apply every time you are rehired by a Participating Employer, even if you have previously elected not to participate in the Plan or previously affirmatively elected to make elective deferral contributions or Roth elective deferral contributions.