Chemed Corporation 401(k) match: fully vested after 6 years
Chemed/Roto-Rooter Savings & Retirement Plan · CHE · CIK 19584
The 401(k) employer match
Set again each year
Chemed Corporation sets its 401(k) match at its own discretion each year, and this filing does not state the rate.
From the Form 11-K filed June 24, 2026 ↗, covering the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Page data last updated July 28, 2026, when the Form 5500 bulk data was last refreshed. Why filings lag
On this page: what the employer actually paid in · the formula, word for word · when the money becomes yours · who can join · what the plan reports to the DOL · how it compares · what to do next
What Chemed puts in, and what the plan costs
What Chemed put into the plan, per active participant
$2,529
Chemed Corporation put $2,529 into this plan for each of its 3,782 active participants in plan year 2024. This is the whole employer side of the plan: matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions, and reallocated forfeitures. The Form 5500 does not separate them, so this is what the employer put in and not the match.
Chemed put in less per active participant than 53% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants at holding companies. The middle plan in that group of 157 reported $2,643. Holding companies comes from business code 551112, which Chemed entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.
What this figure cannot separate: how much Chemed pays, and how much it puts in
This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.
This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.
Source: DOL Form 5500 for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, EIN 310791746, plan 104 · DOL EFAST2 ↗
What Chemed puts in
Not stated in the filing
The match rate is set at the company's discretion each year, and the filing does not state the rate it used.
The Form 5500 for this plan reports what Chemed actually paid in: the figure and its peer comparison are above. It is the whole employer side of the plan on one line, so it answers what went in rather than what the formula promises.
Two places state the terms in full: your plan’s Summary Plan Description, which your employer must provide on request, and your recordkeeper’s site, which for this plan is Merrill Benefits OnLine ↗.
What you contribute to collect all of it
Not stated in the filing
The filing does not state the contribution rate that collects the full employer contribution.
Vesting score
42.86 out of 100
How fast the employer’s money becomes yours. No schedule among the 253 we have scored is lower.
It measures vesting speed and nothing else. It says nothing about the size of the match, what the plan charges, or the funds inside it.
Share of the employer's money that is the worker's at hire and at each of the first 6 anniversaries: 0%, 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%. The score is the average of those 7 readings.
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their Basic Contributions and any earnings or losses thereon. Vesting in the employer’s Matching Contributions occurs in annual 20% increments after two years of service and participants are fully vested after six years of service.”
The wait before the match starts and the year-end true-up appear above when the filing states them. Neither is part of the score, and a filing that is silent on one of them is not a plan without it.
What the plan costs, against plans of its size
22nd percentile
$40.43 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, cheaper than 78% of plans with 1,000–4,999 participants.
What is Chemed's 401(k) match formula?
Chemed sets its 401(k) match at its own discretion each year and does not state the rate in this filing. A discretionary match is set again each year, so the rate in force lives in the plan document rather than the filing. The four shapes a formula takes is what to look for when you read one.
| Match formula | A rate set at the sponsor's discretion on the first 6% of pay |
|---|---|
| Other employer contribution | The Company may also elect to make discretionary contributions ("Qualified Nonelective Contribution"); the Company made discretionary contributions of $4,993,888 and $4,868,290 for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively |
What the filing says, word for word
“The Company, on a participating unit basis, may elect to make contributions (“Qualified Matching Contribution”) to the Plan on the first 6% of employees’ basic contribution.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 24, 2026, SEC EDGAR, corroborated by the filing's inline-XBRL facts · SEC ↗
What is Chemed's 401(k) vesting schedule?
Chemed vests the employer match on a graded schedule: 20% after two years, rising to 100% after six. Each step is money that leaves with you that year, which is how a graded schedule differs from a cliff.
| Employer match vesting | Graded: 20% at 2 yr, 40% at 3 yr, 60% at 4 yr, 80% at 5 yr, 100% at 6 yr |
|---|---|
| Your own contributions | Immediate: always 100% yours |
| Accelerated vesting | All participants of the Plan are fully vested in employer contributions upon normal retirement, death or total permanent disability incurred while employed. |
Vesting, word for word
“Participants are immediately vested in their Basic Contributions and any earnings or losses thereon. Vesting in the employer’s Matching Contributions occurs in annual 20% increments after two years of service and participants are fully vested after six years of service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 24, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
Who can join Chemed's 401(k), and is enrollment automatic?
Chemed's filing does not mention automatic enrollment, which is not the same as the plan having none.
| Plan entry | The Plan is a defined contribution plan available to all full-time employees of participating units of Chemed Corporation (the "Company"), except those covered by collective bargaining agreements, who have completed at least 500 hours of service in any six months of continuous service. |
|---|---|
| Excluded groups | except those covered by collective bargaining agreements |
| Automatic enrollment | Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence) |
Eligibility, word for word
“The Plan is a defined contribution plan available to all full-time employees of participating units of Chemed Corporation (the "Company"), except those covered by collective bargaining agreements, who have completed at least 500 hours of service in any six months of continuous service.”
Source: Form 11-K filed June 24, 2026, SEC EDGAR · SEC ↗
What does the Chemed plan report on Form 5500?
The Chemed plan reported $371.1M in assets and 4,836 participants for plan year 2024.
| Total plan assets | $371,072,376 |
|---|---|
| Participants | 4,836 |
| Recordkeeper | Merrill Lynch |
| Plan-paid admin cost per participant | $40.43 |
How that cost compares
This plan pays $40.43 per participant. The median across plans at holding companies is $106.24, from the 612 of 643 whose Form 5500 yields a per-participant cost.
The plan reports Merrill Lynch as its recordkeeper, one of 663 plans it runs in the data we publish. Of those, the 659 with a computable fee have a median plan-paid cost of $87.18 per participant.
Chemed/Roto Rooter Savings & Retirement Plan on its Form 5500 filing: fees, providers and financials
How does Chemed's 401(k) match compare?
Chemed Corporation's filing does not state a maximum 401(k) match as a share of pay. Across the 181 companies in our data that do, the median is 4.5% of pay.
Employers worth reading next
Of the six employers below, three file at holding companies, two report the same recordkeeper and one vests on the same schedule.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also at holding companies.
Employer match vests immediately. Also at holding companies.
Maximum match 6% of pay. Also at holding companies.
Maximum match 5.1% of pay. Same recordkeeper, Merrill Lynch.
Employer match vests immediately. Same recordkeeper, Merrill Lynch.
Match vests in steps, 100% after 6 years. Also fully vested after 6 years, like Chemed.
What can you do next?
Check your own balance and contribution rate at Merrill Benefits OnLine ↗, the recordkeeper this plan reports.
- Read the Form 11-K on SEC EDGAR ↗
Form 11-K filed June 24, 2026, SEC EDGAR. Every match fact on this page comes from it.
- Changed jobs? Find an old 401(k) ↗
The Department of Labor's Retirement Savings Lost & Found, a free government database.
- This year's IRS contribution limits ↗
The official deferral and catch-up limits every formula operates under.
- Download this data (CSV)
Formula, vesting and source references for this company, one file.
Questions this filing answers
What is Chemed Corporation's 401(k) match?
Chemed Corporation's employer match rate is set at the sponsor's discretion and is not disclosed in the 11-K for the plan year ended December 31, 2025. Chemed Corporation's Form 5500 for plan year 2024 reports $2,529 of employer money per active participant. This is the whole employer side of the plan: matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions, and reallocated forfeitures. The Form 5500 does not separate them, so this is what the employer put in and not the match.
When does the Chemed Corporation 401(k) match vest?
Graded: 20% at 2 yr, 40% at 3 yr, 60% at 4 yr, 80% at 5 yr, 100% at 6 yr.
Does Chemed Corporation's 401(k) plan have automatic enrollment?
Not mentioned in the filing (not proof of absence).
Cite: 401(k) Monitor, “Chemed Corporation 401(k) plan facts”, from SEC Form 11-K accession 0000019584-26-000016, plan year ended 2025-12-31.