# The 401(k) Match Teardown, Two Offers Priced to Kept Dollars by Exit Year

*Turn two plans' SPDs into one table of employer dollars kept at exits of 1, 2, 3 and 5 years, plus the switch-year dollars won or lost.*

- Canonical URL: https://www.refolk.ai/candidates/guides/401k-match-two-offers-kept-dollars
- Pillar: Offers and negotiation
- Format: Teardown
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Last reviewed: 2026-11-06
- Reading time: 22 min
- Keywords: compare 401k match between two job offers, 401k vesting schedule job offer worth it, 401k true-up when changing jobs, changing jobs mid-year 401k match already maxed, how to value employer 401k match in offer, questions to ask HR about 401k before accepting

## Key takeaways

- Convert every sticker match to percent of pay before comparing: 50% on the first 6% is 3% of eligible pay, and 100% on the first 6% is 6%.
- Under a 3-year cliff, a match that shows $18,000 on the statement after two years is worth $0 if you leave before the third anniversary.
- In a plan that matches per paycheck with no true-up, a $150,000 earner deferring 20% from January hits the $24,500 limit at $122,500 of pay and loses $1,650, about 18%, of a $9,000 match.
- The personal deferral limit ($24,500 in the IRS notice used here) is shared across every employer in a year, while each unrelated employer has its own $72,000 annual additions limit, and neither payroll can see the other plan's deferrals.
- A last-day rule at the old job can forfeit a whole year's match: in the worked case, leaving on July 1 costs $3,000 whichever offer is taken.
- In Refolk's index of US benefits titles, 163 profiles carry the ERISA skill but only 3 carry a 401(k) skill, so search for the plan expert by ERISA.

This teardown is for anyone holding two offers, or an offer and a current job, whose 401(k) plans match and vest differently. It carries one worked case from the request for each plan's Summary Plan Description to a single table of employer dollars kept at exits of 1, 2, 3 and 5 years, with the switch year priced line by line. Run your own two plans alongside it. Every figure is arithmetic you can redo from the plan documents.

## What is a 401(k) match worth in a job offer?

A 401(k) match is worth the employer dollars that reach your account and are still vested on the day you leave, minus what the move itself costs you in the switch year. "Salary times match percent" is only the first of five adjustments, and on its own it can rank two plans in the wrong order.

The five adjustments, in the order this guide applies them:

1. Convert the sticker formula to a percent of pay.
2. Apply that percent only to the plan's eligible compensation.
3. Apply the vesting schedule at each exit year you consider plausible.
4. Price the switch year: the eligibility wait, per-paycheck matching, last-day rules, and the deferral limit you share across both jobs.
5. Get written answers on anything the documents leave open.

### The worked case

The candidate earns $150,000 at her current job and has deferred 20% of pay since January. She is under 50, so catch-up contributions do not apply. Both offers start on July 1. Both pay $150,000 base with a $15,000 target bonus, and both advertise a match:

- **Offer A:** "50% match on the first 6% you contribute."
- **Offer B:** "100% match on the first 6% you contribute."

Her current plan matches 100% on the first 4%, paid once a year after year-end.

On the sticker, B looks twice as generous. By the end of this guide, B wins only if she stays three years, and it loses by up to $9,900 of kept match if she leaves sooner.

For calibration, Vanguard's How America Saves data puts the median maximum promised match at 4.0% of pay and the average at 4.7%. One edition of PSCA's annual survey, covering 755 401(k) plans, found that 81.3% offered some form of match. Benchmarks like these tell you whether a plan is ordinary. They do not tell you what you will keep.

## Which plan provisions should you request before signing?

Ask for the Summary Plan Description and any summaries of material modifications for both plans, then pull six provisions from each. The SPD is the plain-language rulebook that ERISA requires a plan to give its participants. A summary of material modifications (SMM) is the notice that amends the SPD between full rewrites.

Public filings will not give you these terms. On a plan's Form 5500, code 2K on line 8a says only that employer contributions depend at least partly on employee deferrals. The form does not disclose the match formula, the vesting schedule, the true-up, or any allocation conditions. Those are only in the SPD or the plan document.

> **Note:** A candidate's right to the SPD is not established
>
> A participant must receive the SPD within 90 days of becoming covered, and within 30 days of a written request, with penalties of up to $110 per day. ERISA defines a participant as an employee or former employee who is or may become eligible. My reading, which no source I found states outright, is that a candidate who has not been hired is not covered, so treat a pre-hire request as a courtesy you ask for in writing.

Your current employer is different. As a participant there, you can compel delivery within 30 days, so send that request on the same day as the others. HR teams usually take a few days to reply, though there is no documented norm.

**SPD request to a recruiter or HR contact**

```
Hi [name],

Thank you again for the offer. Before I sign, I would like to review the retirement plan terms. Could you send:

1. The Summary Plan Description for the 401(k) plan
2. Any summaries of material modifications issued since that SPD
3. If the SPD does not state them, the plan document sections covering the match formula, eligible compensation, entry date, vesting, any year-end true-up, and any last-day or hours condition for the match

A PDF by email is ideal. I am aiming to respond on the offer by [date], so anything you can send by [three days earlier] would help.

Thanks,
[your name]
```

*Send one per employer; for your current plan, address it to the plan administrator named in your enrollment materials.*

### The six provisions, extracted for the worked case

Fill in one grid per plan, and write "not stated" wherever the SPD is silent. Leaving a provision blank invites you to assume the friendly reading.

| Provision | Offer A SPD | Offer B SPD |
|---|---|---|
| Match formula | 50% of deferrals up to 6% of pay | 100% of deferrals up to 6% of pay |
| Eligible compensation | All W-2 pay, bonus included | Base salary only |
| Entry date | Immediate | First of the quarter after 90 days |
| Vesting and service | Immediate (safe harbor match) | 3-year cliff, from hire date |
| True-up | Yes, at year-end | Not stated; match is "per payroll period" |
| Last-day or hours rule | None | Not stated |

The two "not stated" cells in B's column go straight onto the HR question list. Until HR answers in writing, treat "per payroll period" as meaning there is no true-up.

## How do you convert a sticker match into percent of pay?

Multiply the match rate by the deferral cap it applies to, then apply the result only to the plan's eligible compensation, never above the $360,000 compensation limit. "50% on the first 6%" is 3% of eligible pay, and "100% on the first 6%" is 6%.

> **Rule:** Rate times cap, on eligible pay only
>
> Employer dollars = match rate x deferral cap x eligible compensation (capped at $360,000). To collect all of it, you must defer at least the cap percentage from every dollar of eligible pay.

### The wrong turn, made where it usually gets made

The candidate's first pass looked like this:

- **Offer A:** she read "match on the first 6%" as a 6% match, applied to $165,000 of pay, which gives $9,900.
- **Offer B:** she read it as 6% of total compensation, $165,000, which also gives $9,900.

Two identical numbers make the decision look like a coin flip. Both are wrong. Redone correctly:

- **Offer A:** 50% x 6% = 3%, applied to $165,000 because bonus counts as eligible pay, gives **$4,950 a year**. Collecting it requires deferring at least $9,900.
- **Offer B:** 100% x 6% = 6%, applied to $150,000 because bonus is excluded, gives **$9,000 a year**. Collecting it requires deferring at least $9,000.

The real gap is $4,050 a year in B's favor, before vesting. A narrow definition of eligible pay can quietly remove a slice of the match. Here it costs B $900 a year, the 6% it does not pay on the bonus.

#### The limits that shape a match, outermost first

1. **Compensation limit** - No plan may count more than $360,000 of a person's pay
2. **Annual additions limit** - $72,000 per unrelated employer, covering deferrals plus employer money
3. **Personal deferral limit** - $24,500 per person across every plan in the year, plus catch-up from age 50
4. **Eligible compensation** - The SPD's own definition, for example base only or all W-2 pay
5. **Match formula** - Rate x cap, applied to deferrals made from eligible pay

*The match is computed on the innermost layer, but the personal deferral limit is the only layer shared across both jobs in a switch year.*

Three limit details matter at the edges. Catch-up adds $8,000 from age 50 and $11,250 at ages 60 to 63. If your prior-year Social Security wages (W-2 Box 3) from the employer sponsoring the plan exceeded $150,000, your catch-up contributions must go in as Roth. All of these figures are indexed and change most years. Notice 2025-67 set the values used here, so check the IRS's latest annual limits notice before you rely on them.

## How much of the match do you keep at each exit year?

Kept dollars equal the dollars contributed multiplied by your vested percentage on the day you leave. The law sets the slowest schedule a plan may use: either a cliff, where you are 100% vested after three years of service and own nothing before that, or a graded schedule that vests 20% a year starting after the first year.

Two other cases matter. Safe harbor matches, a plan design that is exempt from some nondiscrimination tests, must be 100% vested at all times unless the plan is a QACA, an automatic-enrollment variant of safe harbor. SIMPLE 401(k) matches vest fully when made. If your SPD says QACA, check the vesting rules on the IRS's issue snapshot for matching contributions.

| Exit year | 3-yr cliff | 6-yr graded | Safe harbor (non-QACA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0% | 0% | 100% |
| 2 | 0% | 20% | 100% |
| 3 | 100% | 40% | 100% |
| 5 | 100% | 80% | 100% |

Immediate vesting is becoming more common. PSCA found that its share rose from 39.7% to 44.1% of plans between two survey years, but that still means most plans attach some schedule. Do not assume.

### The worked case's exit table

Assumptions: deferrals spread evenly through each year, target bonus paid once per service year, full-year contribution rates, and no investment growth. The switch year gets its own line in the next section.

| Exit after | Offer A kept | Offer B on statement | Offer B kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | $4,950 | $9,000 | $0 |
| 2 years | $9,900 | $18,000 | $0 |
| 3 years | $14,850 | $27,000 | $27,000 |
| 5 years | $24,750 | $45,000 | $45,000 |

The wrong turn here is comparing the statement column. At two years, B's statement shows $18,000, and if she leaves the day before the third anniversary she keeps $0.

> A match you leave before it vests is a number on a statement, not money you own.

Check how the plan counts service. B's SPD counts it from the hire date. If it counted from plan entry, which for her is October 1, the cliff would arrive three months later. That matters if she is planning her departure date around the cliff. Some plans also count only years with 1,000 hours, so ask if the SPD mentions hours.

## What does the switch year cost?

The switch year is priced on its own line because four provisions only bite when you change jobs mid-year: the old plan's last-day rule, the deferral limit you share across both jobs, the new plan's eligibility wait, and per-paycheck matching with no true-up. In the worked case they cost $3,000 at Offer A, and $5,250 at Offer B if she stays to its cliff.

### The old job's last-day rule

A last-day rule, a type of allocation condition, pays the year's match only to people still employed on the last day of the plan year. Some plans add an hours requirement as well. Her current plan pays 100% on the first 4% once a year, after year-end, and only to people employed on December 31. On her January to June pay of $75,000, that match is $3,000, and she forfeits it by leaving on July 1.

This costs the same under both offers, so it does not change the ranking. It is still a priced number you can bring to the negotiation, either as a sign-on request to cover it or as a reason to move the start date. There is no public data on how common these rules are, so read your current plan's allocation conditions rather than assuming you are safe.

### The deferral limit you share across both jobs

The personal deferral limit, section 402(g), applies per person. The annual additions limit, section 415(c), applies per unrelated employer. So in a switch year you have two $72,000 limits but only one $24,500 limit. By June 30 she has deferred $15,000 (20% of $75,000), which leaves $9,500 of room for the rest of the year.

The wrong turn: she enrolls at Offer A at her usual 20%. July to December adds $15,000, bringing her total to $30,000, which is **$5,500 over the limit**. Offer A's payroll never sees the $15,000 she deferred at her old job, so nothing stops it.

> **Watch out:** Neither payroll knows about the other plan
>
> Each employer stops deferrals at the limit using only its own records, so an excess spread across two plans goes uncaught. You must withdraw the excess by April 15 of the following year (or by the plan's earlier deadline), and the match attached to it is forfeited.

The correct setting at A: because A trues up, any pace that puts between $4,500 (6% of her $75,000 of second-half pay) and $9,500 into the plan earns the full $2,250. Spreading $9,500 over six months works out to about 12.7% of pay.

An edge case worth knowing: if she had already deferred the full $24,500 before switching, a match that depends on her deferrals would pay nothing at the new job that year. In that case an eligibility wait would cost her nothing either.

### The new plan's eligibility wait

Offer B lets her enter on October 1. She earns $37,500 of base pay from July to September, and that pay draws no match. As a plan recordkeeper's own example puts it, if an employee enters on July 1, only July to December pay counts toward a pay-period match. At 6%, the wait costs **$2,250**.

The wait only costs her money she would have kept. If she leaves Offer B within one or two years, that $2,250 would have been forfeited at the cliff anyway, so it costs $0 in kept dollars. From October to December she defers 20% of $12,500 a month, $7,500 in total. That stays inside her $9,500 of room, and every paycheck carries at least 6%, so she collects the full $2,250 for the quarter.

### Per-paycheck matching with no true-up

A true-up is a year-end recalculation that tops your match up to what the annual formula would have paid. Without one, the plan applies the formula to each paycheck separately. If you hit the deferral limit early, the remaining paychecks carry no deferral and draw no match. In her switch year this never bites at B, because she is in the plan for only three months. It bites in every full year after that if she keeps deferring 20%.

| Offer B, full year at 20% deferral | Value |
|---|---|
| Pay at which $24,500 is reached | $122,500 |
| Match with no true-up | $7,350 |
| Match with a true-up | $9,000 |
| Lost | $1,650 (18%) |

**18% - of a full-year match lost by front-loading into a plan with no true-up**

Derived from a $150,000 salary, a 100% match on 6%, and 20% deferrals from January, using the IRS deferral limit.

#### Offer B's match, one wrong turn at a time

| Stage | Figure | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sticker read on base plus bonus | $9,900 | wrong turn: bonus is not eligible pay |
| 6% of eligible base pay | $9,000 | deferrals spread through the year |
| Front-loaded at 20%, no true-up | $7,350 | match stops at $122,500 of pay |
| Kept at a 2-year exit | $0 | 3-year cliff |

*Offer B's match shrinks from $9,900 to $0 through three common mistakes, and only the vesting step is outside her control.*

The fix is to defer evenly, so that she reaches $24,500 on the last paycheck of the year. At B that is about 16.3% of pay, and every paycheck stays above the 6% cap. How often plans skip the true-up is only partly established. PSCA's annual survey found that about 70% of employers who match other than once a year do a year-end true-up. A separate informal PSCA poll, with no published methodology, found that among plans matching other than annually, 34% stop at the limit with no true-up.

### The finished table

The switch-year line, in kept dollars at an exit of three years or more:

| Switch-year item | Offer A | Offer B |
|---|---|---|
| Old match lost to last-day rule | -$3,000 | -$3,000 |
| New match lost to eligibility wait | $0 | -$2,250 |
| Excess deferral, if tracked | $0 | $0 |
| Switch-year line | -$3,000 | -$5,250 |

Combined with the exit table (at one- and two-year exits, B's wait costs nothing kept, so its line is -$3,000):

| Exit after | Offer A kept | Offer B kept | B minus A |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | $1,950 | -$3,000 | -$4,950 |
| 2 years | $6,900 | -$3,000 | -$9,900 |
| 3 years | $11,850 | $21,750 | +$9,900 |
| 5 years | $21,750 | $39,750 | +$18,000 |

A negative number means the cost of the move is larger than the match she keeps. If she front-loads at 20% at B every full year, subtract roughly $1,650 per year from B. B still leads at three years (about +$4,950) and at five years (about +$9,750), but by much less. The verdict: B is the better plan only if she is confident she will reach the third anniversary and the match turns out to be guaranteed rather than discretionary.

## The procedure, from SPD request to kept-dollars table

This is the worked case reduced to seven steps you can run on any pair of plans. Steps 1 and 6 depend on other people's response times. The arithmetic in steps 2 to 5 takes about three hours in total.

#### Two plans to one kept-dollars table

1. **Request both SPDs and SMMs in writing** - Before signing, email each employer for the Summary Plan Description and any summaries of material modifications, and request your current plan's SPD as a participant. Done means you hold every document.
2. **Extract six provisions per plan** - Pull the match formula, eligible compensation, entry date, vesting and service counting, true-up, and any last-day or hours rule, writing "not stated" where the SPD is silent. Budget about an hour.
3. **Convert the sticker match to percent of pay** - Multiply the rate by the cap, apply the result to eligible compensation only, and cap pay at $360,000. Done means employer dollars per year at full participation.
4. **Apply vesting at exits of 1, 2, 3 and 5 years** - Multiply cumulative contributions by the vested percentage at each exit, keeping the statement and kept columns side by side. Budget about 30 minutes.
5. **Price the switch year** - Count match lost to the eligibility wait, subtract deferrals already made from the personal limit, model per-paycheck matching against your deferral pace, and check the old plan for a last-day rule. Done means one dollars won or lost line per offer.
6. **Send HR the questions the SPD left open** - Send every "not stated" provision, plus whether the match is discretionary and its actual rates for the last three years, before you sign. Done means written answers.
7. **Reconcile deferrals across both plans after hire** - After the year's final paycheck, add the Box 12 deferral amounts from both W-2s, and request a corrective distribution before the plan's notice date and no later than April 15 if they exceed the limit.

No source settles whether pricing the switch year should come before or after the HR questions. I price first, because a priced gap tells you which open questions are worth the asking.

## How does the 401(k) offer comparison go wrong?

It goes wrong when a number that looks like money is not money you will keep. Each failure below has a single check that catches it, and each one is a false positive that makes a plan look better than it is.

- **Treating the sticker rate as percent of pay.** This is the "50% match" that sounds bigger than "3% of pay" when it is the same thing. When it lies, two very different plans produce the same number, as both did at $9,900 in the worked case. Check: rate x cap = percent of pay.
- **Counting unvested match.** Under a 3-year cliff, the statement shows the full balance at a two-year exit, but you keep $0. Check: apply the vested percentage from the schedule table before comparing anything.
- **Front-loading into a plan with no true-up.** You reach the deferral limit by October and the match stops. When it lies, the formula looks fully used because you deferred well over 6%. Check: look for "per payroll period" in the SPD and confirm whether there is a true-up.
- **Missing a narrow definition of eligible pay.** If bonus or commission is excluded, the match is smaller than total pay x rate. Check: the SPD's definition of compensation, read on its own.
- **Assuming the old job pays its annual match after you leave.** A last-day rule forfeits it. When it lies, the old plan's match formula reads as fully earned on paper. Check: the allocation conditions section. There is no public data on how common these rules are, so read your own plan.
- **Assuming payroll stops you at the limit.** Each payroll sees only its own plan's deferrals. Check: add the Box 12 deferral amounts from both W-2s.
- **Trusting an advertised rate that is discretionary.** PSCA found that 38.3% of matching plans call their match discretionary, meaning the employer can change or cut it, against 61.4% that guarantee it. A rate in the offer letter is not a rate you are guaranteed to receive. Check: ask for the actual match paid in each of the last three plan years.

One more applies to how I built the next section: do not over-read the index count of 3. A skill-string match on "401(k)" almost certainly undercounts people who administer these plans. The check is to search on the ERISA skill instead, which is what the next section does.

## Who at HR can answer the 401(k) questions, and what should you ask?

The person who can answer is usually titled Benefits Manager, and you will find them by searching for ERISA expertise rather than "401(k)". In Refolk's index of professional profiles, 163 US benefits profiles carry the ERISA skill, while only 3 carry a "401(k)" skill.

| Filter (US benefits titles) | Profiles | Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| Skill: ERISA | 163 | 54x |
| Skill: 401(k) | 3 | 1x |
| Skill: 401(k), Director or VP | 0 | n/a |

**54x - more US benefits profiles carry the ERISA skill than a 401(k) skill**

In Refolk's index, 163 versus 3, across Benefits Manager, Director, Specialist and Analyst titles; the ratio is derived.

In a sample of 25 of those ERISA profiles, 15 (60%, derived) were Benefits Managers, at employers including Adobe, Wells Fargo, Alkami Technology and Aristocrat. If your recruiter cannot answer, ask to be put in touch with the benefits manager by title. If you want to know who that person is before you ask, [Refolk](/candidates) can search benefits staff at a named employer by skill, which is how the counts above were pulled. Treat the counts as a guide to search terms, not as a census.

**Open questions for the benefits contact**

```
Hi [name],

I have read the SPD for the 401(k) plan and have a few questions before I sign:

1. Is the employer match guaranteed or discretionary?
2. What match rate was actually paid in each of the last three plan years?
3. Does eligible compensation for the match include bonus and commission?
4. When would I enter the plan for deferrals, and when for the match, if I start on [start date]?
5. Is the match calculated per payroll period, and is there a year-end true-up?
6. Must I be employed on the last day of the plan year, or work a minimum number of hours, to receive the match?
7. For vesting, is service counted from my hire date or my plan entry date, and do hours requirements apply?

A short written reply is all I need. Thank you.
[your name]
```

*Send only the questions your SPD left as "not stated"; keep questions 1 and 2 in every version.*

## After you sign: closing out the switch year

Your remaining job is to keep total deferrals across both plans under the personal limit and to fix any excess before April 15 of the following year. The fix is unforgiving: it is a corrective distribution, meaning the plan pays the excess back out to you, and any match tied to the excess is forfeited, either reallocated or used to offset future employer contributions depending on the plan. The plan may also set an earlier date for receiving your request. When the two plans belong to unrelated employers, the IRS's voluntary correction program cannot fix the problem for you. If you miss April 15, the excess is taxed twice.

Make the correction cheap by preventing it. Set the new plan's deferral rate from the room left after your old plan's year-to-date total, as in the worked case: $9,500 of room spread over six months, about 12.7% of pay. Re-check the limits every year against the IRS's annual notice, because the figures used here are indexed.

If the teardown tells you neither offer is worth its vesting risk, you are back in the market. [Refolk](/candidates) tailors your resume to each posting and scores how well you fit it, so you can save this level of diligence for offers that justify it.

#### Before calling the comparison done

- [ ] I hold the SPD and every SMM for each plan in the comparison, including my current plan.
- [ ] Each plan has a six-provision grid, with "not stated" written wherever the SPD is silent.
- [ ] Every match is expressed as a percent of eligible pay, not a sticker rate.
- [ ] My kept-dollars table shows the statement and kept columns separately at exits of 1, 2, 3 and 5 years.
- [ ] My switch-year line includes the old plan's last-day rule, the new plan's eligibility wait, and any loss from matching without a true-up.
- [ ] My new deferral rate keeps total deferrals across both plans at or below the personal limit.
- [ ] I have written answers on whether each match is discretionary and what it actually paid in each of the last three years.
- [ ] I have a calendar reminder after the final paycheck of the year to add both W-2s' Box 12 deferral amounts before April 15.

## Frequently asked questions

### How do I compare the 401k match between two job offers?

Compare kept dollars, not match rates. Convert each formula to a percent of eligible pay, apply it to the plan's own definition of eligible compensation, multiply by the vested percentage at the year you might realistically leave, then subtract switch-year costs such as an eligibility wait or a forfeited match at your old job. The plan with the higher sticker rate can still lose if its vesting outlasts your likely tenure.

### Is a 401k vesting schedule on a job offer worth worrying about?

Yes, if there is any real chance you leave before it completes. Under a 3-year cliff you keep nothing until the third anniversary of service, then everything. Under the slowest graded schedule you keep 20% after two years and 80% after five. Price the match at each exit year you consider plausible, and ask whether service is counted from your hire date or your plan entry date.

### What happens to my 401k match if I already maxed out my deferrals at my old job mid-year?

If the new plan only matches your own deferrals, it pays you no match for the rest of that year. The personal deferral limit is shared across every employer you work for in a year, so once you have reached it you cannot defer at the new job. On the other hand, an eligibility wait at the new plan then costs you nothing that year.

### What is a 401k true-up and why does it matter when changing jobs?

A true-up is a year-end recalculation that tops up your match to what the annual formula would have paid. Without one, the plan matches each paycheck separately, so if you hit the deferral limit early, the paychecks after that get no match. Front-loading your deferrals only makes sense in a plan that does a true-up. Look for the words 'per payroll period' in the SPD and ask HR to confirm.

### What questions should I ask HR about the 401k before accepting an offer?

Ask whether the match is guaranteed or discretionary and what it actually paid in each of the last three years. Ask whether bonus counts as eligible pay, when you enter the plan, whether the match is calculated per paycheck with a year-end true-up, whether a last-day or hours rule applies, and how service is counted for vesting. Get the answers in writing.

### Can I get the Summary Plan Description before I accept an offer?

Usually, if you ask, but it is a courtesy and probably not a right. ERISA requires the SPD within 30 days of a written request from a participant, meaning an employee or former employee who is or may become eligible. A candidate who has not been hired does not clearly fit that definition. Ask in writing, give a date, and treat refusal as a fact to weigh in its own right.

---

*From the Refolk guide library. I revise these guides rather than replacing them, so the current version is always at https://www.refolk.ai/candidates/guides/401k-match-two-offers-kept-dollars*