From Human Resources: University of Pennsylvania Retirement Allowance Plan: Notice to Interested Parties

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This notice is to all present, regular employees of The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (the “University”) who are potentially eligible to participate in the Retirement Allowance Plan of the University of Pennsylvania (the “RAP”) as described below.

An application is to be made to the Internal Revenue Service for an advance determination on the qualification of the following employee pension benefit plan:

Name of the Plan:
            Retirement Allowance Plan of the University of Pennsylvania

Plan Number: 003

Name and Address of Applicant:
            The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
            3401 Walnut Street, 527A
            Philadelphia, PA 19104

Applicant’s Employer Identification Number: 23-1352685

Name and Address of Plan Administrator:
            Vice President of Human Resources
            University of Pennsylvania
            3401 Walnut Street, Suite 527A
            Philadelphia, PA 19104

The application will be filed on January 29, 2016 for an advance determination as to whether the RAP meets the qualification requirements of §401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, with respect to the RAP’s amendment. The application will be filed with:
            Internal Revenue Service
            Attention: EP Determination Letters
            Stop 31
            P.O. Box 12192
            Covington, KY 41012-0192

The employees potentially eligible to participate under the RAP are: each person who is employed by University as (i) a regular, full-time, non-exempt or limited service employee not covered by a collective bargaining agreement; or (ii) a full-time non-exempt employee covered by a collective bargaining agreement if such agreement provides for participation in the RAP; or (iii) an exempt or non-exempt, part-time employee who attains age 21 and completes 1,000 or more hours of service during a 12-consecutive-month period beginning either on such employee’s employment commencement date, or if applicable July 1, and who is not otherwise specifically excluded from participating in the RAP. The following are excluded: (a) any student-worker (including any individual classified by the University as a resident, fellow, or intern or any other student-worker who is engaged in employment that is not intended to be for a permanent and indefinite period of time) whose employment is incidental to his educational program with the University; (b) any student or other individual employed or performing services as part of a post-doctoral program with the University; (c) any person classified by the University as a temporary employee; (d) any person whose terms and conditions of employment are subject to a collective bargaining agreement unless the collective bargaining agreement provides for the eligibility of such person to participate in the RAP; (e) any person employed by a division or an affiliate who is covered by the Retirement Plan of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Presbyterian Medical Center and the Pennsylvania Hospital, by The Retirement Contribution and 403(b) Matching Plan of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, or by another retirement plan sponsored by a division or affiliate of the University of Pennsylvania Health System; (f) any leased employee; (g) any employee eligible to be covered under the University of Pennsylvania Basic Contribution Plan and the University of Pennsylvania Matching Plan (which together were formerly known as the University’s Tax-Deferred Retirement Plan), unless such employee was participating in the RAP on the date he became eligible to participate in such other University plans and he elected to continue participating in the RAP; (h) any employee who is a police officer covered under the University of Pennsylvania Penn Police Association Defined Benefit Retirement Plan; (i) any member of the faculty of the University; and (j) any independent contractor or any other person who is not classified by the University as a common law employee for purposes of withholding federal employment taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service has previously issued a determination letter with respect to the qualification of the RAP.

Rights of Interested Parties
You have the right to submit to EP Determinations, at the address below, either individually or jointly with other interested parties, your comments as to whether the RAP meets the qualification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code. Your comments to EP Determinations may be submitted to:
            Internal Revenue Service
            EP Determinations
            Attention: Customer Service Manager
            P.O. Box 2508
            Cincinnati, OH 45202

You may instead, individually or jointly with other interested parties, request the Department of Labor to submit, on your behalf, comments to EP Determinations regarding qualification of the RAP. If the Department declines to comment on all or some of the matters you raise, you may, individually, or jointly if your request was made to the Department jointly, submit your comments on these matters directly to EP Determinations at the Cincinnati address above.

Requests for Comments by the Department of Labor
The Department of Labor may not comment on behalf of interested parties unless requested to do so by the lesser of ten employees or ten percent of the employees who qualify as interested parties. The number of persons needed for the Department to comment with respect to the RAP is ten. If you request the Department to comment, your request must be in writing and must specify the matters upon which comments are requested, and must also include:

(1) the Name of the Plan, the Plan Number, the Name and Address of the Applicant, and the Applicant’s Employer Identification Number, as listed above on this Notice; and

(2) the number of persons needed for the Department to comment.

A request to the Department to comment should be addressed as follows:
            Deputy Assistant Secretary
            Employee Benefits Security Administration
            U.S. Department of Labor
            200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.
            Washington, D.C. 20210
            Attention: 3001 Comment Request

Comments to the Internal Revenue Service
Comments submitted by you to EP Determinations must be in writing and received by it by March 14, 2016. However, if there are matters that you request the Department of Labor to comment upon on your behalf, and the Department declines, you may submit comments on these matters to EP Determinations to be received by it within 15 days from the time the Department notifies you that it will not comment on a particular matter, or by March 14, 2016, whichever is later, but not after March 29, 2016. A request to the Department to comment on your behalf must be received by it by February 13, 2016, if you wish to preserve your right to comment on a matter upon which the Department declines to comment, or by February 23, 2016 if you wish to waive that right.

Additional Information
Detailed instructions regarding the requirements for notification of interested parties may be found in sections 17 and 18 of Revenue Procedure 2015-6. Additional information concerning this application (including, where applicable, an updated copy of the RAP and related trust; the application for determination; any additional documents dealing with the application that have been submitted to the Service; and copies of section 17 of Revenue Procedure 2015-6) is available at the office of the Plan Administrator during normal business hours for inspection and copying, or you may request that this information be supplied to you by mail by contacting the Plan Administrator at (215) 898-9947. (There may be a nominal charge for copying and/or mailing.)

Related: From Human Resources: University of Pennsylvania Basic Plan: Notice to Interested Parties

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