19
be credited as years of service for the employer. Section 414(a)
provides:
SEC. 414. DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.
(a) Service for Predecessor Employer.--For
purposes of this part--
(1) in any case in which the employer
maintains a plan of a predecessor employer,
service for such predecessor shall be treated
as service for the employer, and
(2) in any case in which the employer
maintains a plan which is not the plan
maintained by a predecessor employer, service
for such predecessor shall, to the extent
provided in regulations prescribed by the
Secretary, be treated as service for the
employer.
No regulations have been issued pursuant to section 414(a)(2).
The cases before us do not involve the situation in section
414(a)(1), in which the employer maintains a plan of a
predecessor employer. Petitioners apparently do not ask us to
interpret section 414(a)(2) in their favor, and we doubt such a
request would prove beneficial. See Carver v. Westinghouse
Hanford Co., 951 F.2d 1083, 1088 (9th Cir. 1991); Phillips v.
Amoco Oil Co., 799 F.2d 1464, 1470-1471 (11th Cir. 1986)
(interpreting the ERISA counterpart to section 414(a)(2) and
concluding that Congress intended to leave to the Secretary of
the Treasury the question of whether to require such service with
a predecessor employer be taken into account). Petitioners
instead argue that, in the absence of regulations under section
414(a)(2), the plan sponsor or the plan administrator had the
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