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The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is part of the U.S. Department of Labor and is, in its own words, “…committed to educating and assisting the 140 million Americans covered by more than 707,000 private retirement plans, 2.5 million health plans, and similar numbers of other welfare benefit plans holding over $6 trillion in assets; as well as plan sponsors and members of the employee benefits community.” Awareness amongst people regarding what EBSA is, their rights, the law and the EBSA’s regulations is less. However, there are guidelines to protect a person’s interest in retirement planning. Below are a few questions that have been answered regarding this: Q. The retirement plan is now managed by the company itself. However, this was being managed by a third party company previously. Due to this the EBSA wants to examine the retirement plans and look for violations. Is this a normal process that EBSA follows and are they required to file a summons so that the company co-operates fully? Does having less than $20,000.00 in the 401(k) of the former employees’ retirement plan have any negative impact?
Considering the above situation, it seems that the EBSA is following rules as per the ERISA and is performing an inspection or investigating a grievance filed by a beneficiary of the 401(k). If the company requests for a subpoena to co-operate with the investigation, then that would give a feeling that something is wrong. If there is nothing wrong, then it would be better not to request for a subpoena. Primarily EBSA was set up to assist the employers to follow the law with regards to the programs that are offered to the employees. They assist in finding out any loop holes so that corrective measures are taken which in turn would avoid law suits being filed by the employees. Q. JPMChase has purchased Bank One and they have no record of the Bank One Savings and Investment Plan. One was employed with Bank One for 15 years and was a part of the program. The employee also has documentation to prove that contribution was made towards the plan. What options does this employee have?
The governing body that enforces the rules and regulations of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is the U.S. Department of Labor. One may contact them about the situation. The EBSA enforces rules that govern what plan managers have to do, the investment of plan assets, reporting and disclosure of plan information, enforcement of the fiduciary provisions of the law, and workers' benefits rights. For further information, one may call EBSA's toll-free Employee & Employer Hotline at: 1.866.444.EBSA (3272). Considering the above situation, one may sue JPMChase as they would have reviewed the business and account information prior to the purchase of Bank One. This would have given them insights about the existence of the plan. One may also check with the ex-colleagues to find out about their accounts. Q. Consider a situation where an employee who was terminated has not received the COBRA benefits even after 18 months. When the employee contacts the company, they ask him/her to file a claim in the federal courts. What should the employee do in such a situation?
In such a situation, the employee may file a complaint with the Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA). The company may be punished by the EBSA for not adhering to the COBRA guidelines. The company may be imposed with a penalty of $110.00 by the IRS for each day of non-conformance with the guidelines. If more than one beneficiary was affected, then a penalty of up to $200.00 can be imposed in addition to a fine of $110.00 that would be imposed by the ERISA for each day of non-conformance. EBSA is a governing body that aims to make sure that the benefits due to the employees are received by them. Hence, both the employer and the employees should understand the functioning of the EBSA. One may speak to an employment lawyer to get more information in this regard.
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