Transfer Of Funds From 401k To Ira, Sick Time Laws State Specific.

I'm trying to understand some of the laws or just general knowledge around a 401k i have. I'm going to kinda put events into chronological order to hopefully help you guys understand the scenario.

2021: get job that offers 401k, 401k is funded by employer at 1$ per hour worked. 401k is managed by a regional trust.

2024 401k is vested, I am entitled to around 4k when I reach retirement age, the money in the 401k is mine.

2024 the regional trust is merged with a larger trust and the 401k employer contributions are replaced with a employer funded annuity. The employer no longer puts money into the 401k.

2025 one year has passed since money has been deposited into the 401k. The trust that used to manage the 401k is still contactable but is now under the management of the new trust.

When I contact the brokerage that holds the money and the 401k, they tell me that my employer (the trust) needs to mark me as separated from employment in there system in order to remove the money or transfer it into an ira.

I am confused because:

the funds are past the vesting period and I am entitled to the money.

The trust no longer funds and offers the 401k, if I let the money sit there for 40 years the fees charged by the brokerage will negatively impact the value of the 401k.

If I self fund the 401k it is placed into a sub account of the 401k. Meaning I can transfer or withdraw my own deposits but I am still restricted from the employers deposits.

Issue number 2:

We received sick time at 1 hour for every 40 hours worked as per our state laws and what not.

after our merger a work contract was negotiated and our sick time is now about 2$ an hour with is great and this is managed by the same trust.

The trust sends the money from the sick time to an credit union one a month, and the credit union deposits the money into a checking account.

My issue is: in order to access the sick time funds we must create an account at the credit union.

The credit union restricts bank to bank transfers to 500$ a month. Meaning in order to access my entire balance i would need to travel to the credit union.

This is an issue because: if I am very sick, I will likely need more then 500$ in a month, and if I am very sick, I am likely unable to travel to the credit union.

The credit union sends a debit card and it is like a normal checking account. But the bank to bank restrictions for the online portion seems shady, again though I don't know the laws. And I haven't used the debit card so I don't know what restrictions might be in place.

This is washington state, and this is a massive organization.

The work contract negotiated in 2024 has not been materialized that I know of. If you go to the website of the organization we negotiated the contract with you can find a revised copy of our previous contract that they say is in effect until 2028. But this contract does not seem final and appears to be missing portions.

Location: Washington State