The Service Provision Break-In-Service Screen allows users to indicate how to define a break in service for a service definition as well as how to handle such a break.

• Breaks Based on Historical Dates: all items in this section are based on service accrued between Historical Dates.
  
  
  • Formula-based break-in-Service Rules: space to enter a formula to define the conditions under which service prior to a break should be either included or excluded. You should choose either include or exclude depending upon which formula is easier to write.
  • Conditions Where Break-in-Service is Ignored: this area allows you to specify for specific termination types that can be ignored if the period of the break is less than some period. For example, if a Service Definition ignored breaks due to layoff that were shorter than one year, you could specify that here.
  • Ignore breaks that begin and end in same reporting period: only applicable for Service Provisions that measure service accrual based upon reported amounts. Check this box if breaks in service that occur within the same reporting period (same calendar year for example) are ignored.
  • Apply rules to Reported Amount accrual provisions: service accrual is always dependent on the defined historical date accrual conditions, but may also depend on Reported Amount values (see Service Definition Screen). Check this box to apply the conditions specified above not only to service determined by Historical Dates, but also to service accruals that are based on Reported Amount values.
  • Rounding of Service Dates: if the date that service accrual begins after a break is not the date of rehire but rather some later date based upon rounding of the rehire date, you can specify how that new Start Date is to be determined. Similarly, the End Date of service periods can be rounded here, along with the Calendar Anniversary used for rounding.
• Breaks Based on Hours Worked: all items in this section are based on the number of Hours entered below.
  
  
  • Break occurs during a sub-period if hours are less than: allows for the exclusion of service in a sub-period prior to a break in service if the sub-period Hours are less than the value input here. Hours can be defined in the Hours determination for sub-period section using one of the following methods:
    
    
    • Use sub-period amounts: choose this option if the same Reported Amounts used to determine service accrual are used to specify hours during breaks.
    • Use Reported Amount: choose this option if some other Reported Amount (other than the Reported Amounts used for service accrual) are to be used to be measure hours during the potential break (rare).
    • Use Formula Derived Item: choose this option if some other Reported Amounts (other than the Reported Amounts used for service accrual) are to be used to measure hours during the potential break and those hours are made up by more than one Reported Amount (separately calculated using a Formula Derived Item).
  • CBP and PBS values: check the Exclude service... box in this section to enable service exclusions based on a defined number of Consecutive Break Periods (CBP). If pre-break service periods prior to the CBP are less than the number of periods specified in the Pre-break Service (PBS) input, then the Pre-break Service will be excluded from their calculated service total. The years here usually correspond to the number of years before an employee first becomes vested.
    
    For example, if the box is checked and the number 5 is input in both the CBP and PBS values and each service period is one year, a Participant will lose their Pre-break Service after 5 years of Consecutive Break Periods, provided that they have accrued fewer than 5 years of Pre-break Service.
    
    
    • Check if vested at start of break and, if so, include PBS: if this box is checked, a vested Participant will not lose pre-break service due to a break-in-service even if pre-break service is less than the value defined above.
  • Formula-based Break-in-Service Rules: space to enter a formula to define the conditions under which service prior to a break should be either included or excluded. You should choose either include or exclude depending upon which formula is easier to write.
• Other Options
  
  
  • Exclude service periods after any break in service: check this box if service can no longer accrue after a break has occurred. This generally only occurs with soft-frozen plans after the soft freeze date.
  • Exclude periods prior to the earliest accrual date of the following Service Definition: check this box if service cannot accrue prior to the earliest accrual date of another Service Definition (rare).