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The Employee Retirement
Income Security Act (ERISA) requires plan administrators — the people
who run plans — to give plan participants in writing the most important
facts they need to know about their retirement and health benefit plans
including plan rules, financial information, and documents on the operation and
management of the plan. Some of these facts must be provided to participants
regularly and automatically by the plan administrator. Others are available
upon request, free-of-charge, or for copying fees. The request should be made
in writing.
One of the most important documents participants are entitled to
receive automatically when becoming a participant of an ERISA-covered
retirement or health benefit plan or a beneficiary receiving benefits under
such a plan, is a summary of the plan, called the summary plan description or
SPD. The plan administrator is legally obligated to provide to participants,
free of charge, the SPD. The summary plan description is an important document
that tells participants what the plan provides and how it operates. It provides
information on when an employee can begin to participate in the plan, how
service and benefits are calculated, when benefits becomes vested, when and in
what form benefits are paid, and how to file a claim for benefits. If a plan is
changed, participants must be informed, either through a revised summary plan
description, or in a separate document, called a summary of material
modifications, which also must be given to participants free of charge.
In addition to the summary plan description, the plan
administrator must automatically give participants a copy of the plan's summary
annual report each year. This is a summary of the annual financial report that
most plans must file with the Department of Labor. These reports are filed on
government forms called the Form 5500. The summary annual report is available
at no cost. To learn more about the plan assets, participants may ask the plan
administrator for a copy of the annual report in its entirety.
If participants are unable to get the summary plan description,
the summary annual report or the annual report from the plan administrator,
they may be able to obtain a copy by writing to the U.S. Department of Labor,
EBSA, Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20210, for a nominal copying charge. Participants should
provide their name, address, and phone number to enable EBSA to contact them to
follow up on their request.
DOL Web Pages on This
Topic
Consumer Information on
Pension Plans
Provides fact sheets, booklets, and other pension plan
information from the Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration
(EBSA).
Consumer Information on
Health Plans
Provides fact sheets, booklets, and other health plan
information from EBSA.
Compliance
Assistance
Provides publications and other materials to assist employers
and employee benefit plan practitioners in understanding and complying with the
requirements of ERISA as it applies to the administration of employee pension
and welfare benefit plans.
ERISA Filing Acceptance
System (EFAST)
The EFAST system streamlines filing and processing of the
annual return/report forms through the use of computer scannable forms and
electronic filing technologies. This Web site provides assistance on using this
system.
How to File a
Claim for Your Benefits
Explains the steps you may take to file a claim
and what to do if you are denied benefits.
How to
Obtain Employee Benefit Plan Documents from the Department of
Labor
Describes the documents and materials available through the EBSA
public disclosure room and how you can obtain the documents from them.
Pension and Health Care Coverage: Questions and Answers for Dislocated
Workers
Provides answers to commonly asked questions from dislocated
workers about their pension and health plan benefits.
Protect
Your Pension: A Quick Reference Guide
Provides an overview of the
federal rules that protect pension plans, including 10 warning signs that your
401(k) contributions are being misused.
Questions & Answers:
EFAST — ERISA Filing Acceptance System
Provides answers to commonly
asked questions about the EFAST system.
Troubleshooter's
Guide to Filing the ERISA Annual Report (Form 5500) (PDF)
Provides
information about the changes in reporting under EFAST and how to avoid errors
most commonly made by filers.
What You Should Know
About Your Pension Rights
Provides information to help answer many of
the most common questions about pension plans.
Your Employer's
Bankruptcy: How Will it Affect Your Employee Benefit?
Focuses on
bankruptcy’s effect on pension plans and group health plans.
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