FAQ 401: Import--Import wizard limits to 3000 hours, but an extra year of vesting service is being credited

Problem: We have some plans that record large number of hours of service for some participants due to the way they credit hours. I recently tried to download a file that had employees with more than 3000 hours. ASC gave me a message that I could not download more than 3000 hours so I changed my input file records to 3000 hours for each of the applicable employees. Subsequently, when I did Calculations-Valuation-Complete Calculation, ASC incorrectly bumped up the vesting percentage by 2 years instead of 1 for those participants. I have tested it out on a couple of other plans and got the same result. Does this mean I should not load hours equal to 3000 even though the error message said I could not load hours of more than 3000? Is it just 3000 hours than causes the vesting to increase 2 years or is there another level that we should not exceed when we enter hours?

Solution: 3000 hours is the point at which an extra year of service will be credited. It was hard-coded into the program many years ago for users to override our service calculation. We used the maximum number allowed in the field, assuming that no one would ever actually earn that many hours. However, there have been a few people before you who had odd crediting plans that resulted in large hours. So, although the import allows 3000 hours to accommodate this programming, you should cap it at 2999 if you do not want extra service credited.