401k , fringe

[jennylou]

pa We have a 401k plan and for instance her is example we made 1200.00 they took 229 in taxes and 358 in our pens leaving us with 618 take home we did not get to pick how much we wanted to take out we really never had a chose on the matter of the fringe. he makes prevailing wage. Alos they say about we are 100% vested. but is this legal do we have to contribute we are in a hard way and need this money. Because they say we make that much we don't bring home that much and we don't quilfy for anything really we make half of our gross income

[pattytx]

Your post is rather hard to figure out because the grammar and sentence structure is somewhat lacking. But let me try.

There is the possibility that a 401(K) plan can be include a "passive enrollment" requirement, in that newly eligible employees will automatically be enrolled with a certain default percentage. If the plan document allows for that, it is legal and has been for several years.
[url=http://www.watsonwyatt.com/us/pubs/insider/showarticle.asp?ArticleID=13115[/url]

$358 is way too high of a default percentage for 401K contributions based on $1200 gross earnings. And "pension" is not the same as 401K. If he's making prevailing wage, is he a member of a union? It's possible that the "pension" shown on the paystub is partially a mandatory deduction as part of the union contract. Your husband needs to talk to the benefits administrator to get clarification of what exactly is being deducted, what is mandatory (if any) and what can be cancelled, and what vesting may be applicable.

Without the tax details of each plan, what other pre-tax deductions he may have (for example, medical insurance) and what he claimed on his W-4, there is no way we could determine whether his withholding was correct or not.