BARBARA PLETCHER, September 29, 2022  Over the years, the Department of Labor (DOL), the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have published guidance regarding acceptable methods of searching for missing participants in tax-qualified retirement plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In the September Benefits Report, we […]

BARBARA PLETCHER, July, 2019    Did you know that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) administers a missing participants program for defined contribution plans? We ask because PBGC has indicated, informally, that few defined contribution plans have taken advantage of this program. Missing Participants Program In the benefits community, it is well known that PBGC […]

BARBARA PLETCHER, February 2017    On December 28, 2016 (at the end of the Obama administration), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Interpretive Bulletin 2016-1 (IB 2016-1) to document DOL views regarding shareholder rights such as voting of proxies and shareholder activism/ engagement. This Interpretive Bulletin also addresses maintenance of and compliance with investment […]

BARBARA PLETCHER, March 2016 – We are seeing a renewed interest in derisking of defined benefit pension plans by implementing a “lump sum window,” and wanted to share with you the employee communication below. For purposes of this article, a “lump sum window” is a limited period of time during which participants in a defined […]