The Employee Retirement Income Security Act and You

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act is a federal law. This Act sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans. It requires plan administrators to give participants in writing the most important facts (some automatically and some upon request) that the participants 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. The law requires the administrator to provide the summary plan description and a copy of the plan’s summary annual report to the participants free of charge. If the administrator does not provide these documents, the participants can obtain them by writing to the United States Department of Labor. The Act requires plans to provide participants with important information about plan features and funding and sets minimum standards for participation, vesting, benefit-accrual and funding. It defines how long a person may be required to work before becoming eligible to participate in a plan, to accumulate benefits and to have a non-forfeitable right to those benefits. The Act also creates detailed funding rules. These rules require plan sponsors to provide adequate funding for the plan. An experienced employment atto
ey can advice you on your eligibility for participating in a pension plan. The Act makes plan fiduciaries (someone who exercises discretionary authority or control over a plan's management or assets, including anyone who provides investment advice to the plan) accountable and protects the plan from mismanagement and misuse of assets through its fiduciary provisions. Under the Act, participants can sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty.

The Act created the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a federally chartered corporation to guarantee payment of certain benefits if a defined plan is terminated. The Act mandates that the plans must include a certain proportion of (but not all) employees. Workers "covered" by a plan and meeting certain requirements must be given an opportunity to become plan members. Participants who work specified periods of time earn non forfeitable rights to receive pensions at retirement. Plans are required to give benefit credit for all years of plan participation. A dollar value is assigned to each year of benefit credit. This value must conform to nondiscrimination rules aimed at preventing excessive weighting in favor of higher-paid and older employees. Plans must have provisions for benefits for widows and widowers of plan participants. However this protection can be given up if both spouses agree. The plan must pay pensions to former spouses if directed to do so by a specific kind of court order. Participants have the right to decide the timing and form of payment of their pensions. Persons administering pension plans or investing plan assets are subject to mandatory standards of conduct. Every plan must provide detailed financial and actuarial data regularly to the IRS which may be made available to participants. Under the Act, participants can appeal adverse pension benefit decisions, first to the plan, and then, if necessary, to the courts. In case of any violation of the law, the courts can award certain remedies. The Act prohibits plans from using discharges, layoffs, plant closings, or other means to interfere with participants' attaining their benefits under a pension plan. Find a lawyer to discuss your rights. An experienced employment atto
ey can help fight for your rights under the Act|If you rights under the Act have been violated, consult with an employment law firm|Seek the assistance of an experienced employment lawyer if your rights under the Act have been violated.