Valid ESOP Plan Requirements upon Resignation?

[NutMjr]

This seems to be a vague topic around here, but here goes nothing.

Voluntary employment termination in Dec. 2008, with last official day to be 12/24/2008.

I was fully vested (5 years) as my employment was 5 days shy of 10 years.

June 2009 arrived to receive ESOP disbursement information. I had not taken any action at that time. A month later, another notice arrives stating a change to the disbursement amount for incorrectly including me as part of the census count for 2008. The change in disbursement was less $13K.

I inquired to the basis of the reduction since it was unclear. Here is the response below:

The difference in the two statements was caused by an error on the census that did not show you as terminated. The reason for the elimination of the amount showing as a contribution is due to the fact that you were not an employee on the last day of the plan year, 12/31. The plan has always been set up to reward employees as they continue to remain with the company. To accomplish this, the requirements for a contribution in a plan year are: 1) an employee has at least 1,000 hours of service and 2) the employee is an employee on 12/31 of the plan year. You terminated your employment before 12/31, therefore you receive no contribution for 2008. This information is stated in the ESOP Summary Plan Description that all employees received, either when they started with our company or when the plan was first put in place in 2002.

I understand the conditions. I did not ask, but does condition 1 refer to the calendar year or from start date?

Do I have any recourse/options to pursue redemption of the $13K amount?

These conditions make more sense if employment was terminated by the company, ergo forfeit benefits. However, it was voluntary and without any issue or specific occurrence for my resignation.

Is this a typical stance of companies using ESOP to not only provide this benefit but also to protect in this circumstance. Essentially, my performance and role was significant to contribute to the company for 358 of the year.

Thanks in advance to any input/recommendations/suggestions/etc.