Part-Time Worker Influx Muddles Employers’ 401(k) Recordkeeping

Employers must grapple with how they will keep track of their workers’ hours over the next three years so they can roll some part-timers into existing retirement plans.

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act opens up employer-sponsored 401(k) plans to part-time workers who log more than 500 hours per year for three consecutive years. Although new enrollees can’t get in until 2024 at the earliest, companies will need to configure their systems soon to ramp up their recordkeeping, benefits advisers said.

The SECURE Act says companies must track part-timers’ hours from 2021 through 2023 to make ...