EBSA Issues Final Rule on Disclosures to Multi-employer Plan Participants

February 26, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration has issued a final rule on the disclosure of funding and other financial information to workers participating in multiemployer retirement plans.

The regulation requires the administrator of a multiemployer pension plan, on the written request of any plan participant, beneficiary, employee representative (e.g., union), or any employer that has an obligation to contribute to the plan, to furnish copies of requested financial and actuarial reports of the plan.

The documents that are required to be furnished are:

• Periodic actuarial reports;
• Quarterly, semi-annual, or annual financial reports; and
• Certain applications filed with the Secretary of the Treasury and related determinations (amortization extensions).

A plan administrator must furnish the requested documents within 30 days from the request. The Secretary of Labor may assess a civil penalty against any person of up to $1,000 a day for each violation. A plan is not required to provide more than one copy of any document during any one 12-month period, and it may impose a reasonable charge on the requester to cover the cost of copying and mailing a document.

The EBSA said the cost of the final rule is expected to total approximately $2.4 million in the year of implementation (2009 dollars), $2.1 million in the second year, and $1.7 million in the third year. The ten-year total discounted cost of the rule is $15.7 million.

Text of the final rule is here.

Rebecca Moore
editors@plansponsor.com