We exclude from wages, payments to an employee or any of his or her dependents on “account of retirement” if:

1. a. 

   The employer made payments under a plan, and

2. b. 

   The plan provided for retirement at a specified age, or absent such provision, the employer's pension plan specified an age, and

3. c. 

   The employer would not have made payments if the employee had not retired.

If only one of the conditions in RS 01402.320 is present, we may consider the payment to be “on account of retirement,” provided all employees who would receive these payments would also qualify under the regular retirement plan, by the time the pre-retirement payments terminate.

For purposes of this section, the employee retired when he or she discontinued performing services for the employer, and there was no expectation that the employee would return to work; at that point, we view an employment relationship as ended.