Currently, under the the 401k restrictions, companies are tested to determine the rate at which employees are participating in 401k programs. If sufficiently few employees are participating or participating at a low percentage of their income then employees over, for example $100k are limited in their contribution.
The problem is, in an industry like Retail where turnover is high, many retail employees contribute little or nothing to the 401k plan despite years of effort to promote 401k benefits. Meanwhile, corporate employees with no ability to change store level behavior are limited in their ability to save within the 401k plan. Change the 401k HCE regulations to only impact upper management, or modify the test for different types of businesses.