Vesting
Participants are immediately vested in their employee and employer contributions deposited after January 1, 2020 in their account balances.
Prior to January 1, 2020 all discretionary additional NAS company contributions and earnings thereon vest to the participants based upon their years of service as follows:
| | |
Years of Service | | Vesting Percentage |
Less than three | | 50% |
Three or more | | 100% |
Prior to January 1, 2020, NAS participants are 100 percent vested upon reaching age 65, death, or upon plan termination, regardless of the participant’s years of service. Terminated participants forfeit non-vested amounts. Forfeitures are accumulated during the Plan year and may be used to reduce NAS company contributions or pay Plan administrative expenses. During 2022, there was $7,922 forfeitures applied to NAS company contributions. The balance of forfeited non-vested accounts was $202,211 at December 31, 2022 (2021 - $115,796). Refer to the Plan document for vesting provisions related to acquired plan account balances.
Participant accounts
Each participant’s account is credited with the participant’s contributions and allocations of (a) the Company matching contributions, (b) Plan earnings and losses, and (c) administrative expenses. Allocations are based on participant earnings or account balances, as defined in the Plan document. The benefit a participant is entitled to is the benefit that can be provided from the participant’s vested account.
Distributions
Distributions from the Plan may be made to a participant upon death, total disability, retirement, financial hardship, or termination of employment. In-service withdrawals are also permitted after a participant attains age 591⁄2. Company contributions, if any, are subject to certain forfeiture provisions.
Upon termination of employment, a participant whose vested account balance is greater than $5,000 may elect to receive a distribution of his or her account balance, leave the vested account balance in the Plan until a date not to exceed April 1 of the year following the year in which the participant reaches age 701⁄2 or request a direct rollover. A participant with a vested account balance between $1,000 and $5,000 (including the value of the Participant’s Rollover Account) which has not elected to have such distribution paid directly to an eligible retirement plan specified by the participant in a direct rollover or to receive the distribution directly in accordance with Article 11, will automatically have the distribution directly rollover to the individual retirement account designated by the Committee. If the participant’s vested account balance is $1,000 or less (including the value of the Participant’s Rollover Account), the Committee may direct that the amount be automatically distributed.
For all participant-driven distributions, any portion of a participant’s account that is invested in Nutrien common stock may be distributed in cash or in common shares of Nutrien, at the election of the participant.
Participants may make withdrawals, not to exceed their pre-tax contributions, to satisfy one of the immediate and heavy financial needs as described in the Plan document.
The designated beneficiary is entitled to a death benefit distribution equal to the participant’s vested account balance.
Notes receivable from participants
Participants may borrow from their fund accounts up to a maximum amount equal to the lesser of $50,000 or 50 percent of their vested account balance. Loan terms range from one to five years or up to 20 years for the purchase of a primary residence. The loans are secured by the balance in the participant’s account. Loans bear interest based on the prevailing terms when the loan was made. Interest rate is established at the inception of the loan and is set at one percentage point higher than the prime lending rate as posted in Reuters as of the first business day of the calendar month in which the loan is made. The interest rate is fixed and does not change for the duration of the loan. Principal and interest are paid ratably through payroll deductions. A participant may generally have no more than one outstanding loan at any one time. As of December 31, 2022, participant loans have maturities through 2042 at interest rates ranging from 4.3 percent to 9.3 percent.
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