Note 1–Description of the Plan
The following is a brief description of the Ball Corporation 401(k) and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (the “Plan”). Participants should refer to the Plan Document or the Summary Plan Description for more complete information.
General
The Plan is a defined contribution plan established on September 1, 1983. Ball Corporation (the “Company”) is the Plan’s Sponsor and the Plan is administered by the Global Pension and Benefits Committee (“GPBC”). The Plan was most recently amended and restated effective January 1, 2015.
The Plan is subject to the provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”).
On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) was passed into law. The CARES Act expands the ability of certain 401(k) plan participants to withdraw, penalty free, funds from their vested retirement plan accounts (up to $100,000), increases the participant loan limit to $100,000, and delays loan repayments for up to one year, subject to certain participant eligibility criteria. The Plan adopted the provisions of the CARES Act related to expanded ability of withdrawals and allowed for delayed loan repayments for up to one year if requested by participants. Effective January 1, 2022, the Plan was amended to include these provisions.
Effective January 1, 2022, the Plan was amended to include an additional Non-Elective Company Contribution (“NECC”) for certain participants. Additional detail can be found in the Company Contributions section in Note 1.
Effective January 1, 2022, the Plan was amended to make miscellaneous clarifications and revisions.
On December 29, 2022, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (“SECURE”) 2.0 Act was signed into law. Effective January 1, 2023, the SECURE Act 2.0 updates certain rules related to required minimum distributions (“RMDs”), special distribution provisions (related to hardship, penalty-free early distributions and birth and adoption distributions), Roth employer contributions, employer-funded participation financial incentives and plan corrections.
On January 9, 2023, the Plan adopted a retroactive amendment, effective January 16, 2017, to reflect the Plan-related provisions of the collective bargaining agreement involving the Fort Worth location.
Trustees and Recordkeepers of the Plan
The GPBC decided to transition the trustee and recordkeeping functions from Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company (the “Former Trustee” or “Vanguard”) to Voya Institutional Trust Company (the “Trustee” or “Voya”). This transition occurred on August 31, 2022. In order to facilitate this transition, a blackout period was established and enforced. For the period from August 26, 2022 to September 6, 2022 (the “blackout period”), participants were unable to direct or diversify investments in their individual accounts, or receive a distribution from the Plan.
Eligibility
All U.S. salaried and hourly employees of the Company, who are over 18 years of age and are in participating subsidiaries, are eligible to participate in the Plan. Employees who are considered temporary or seasonal become eligible upon completion of 1,000 hours of service in a computation period, as defined by the Plan Document. Eligibility to participate in the Plan begins with the first day of employment. An eligible employee who does not make an election about his or her participation in the Plan is automatically enrolled 30 days after his or her eligibility date.