The Department of Labor is increasing its audits of defined benefit pension plans with so-called "missing" participants, thereby pressuring plan administrators to find former employees—or their beneficiaries—so that the benefits they're owed can be distributed to them.

The Society for Human Resource Management reports that, according to Norma Sharara, a principal in Mercer's employment practices risk management group in Washington, this is something "completely new" that started in the DOL's Philadelphia office as a pilot project last year and is now going national.

Sharara says in the report that the Philadelphia DOL office began reviewing the Forms 5500 of defined-benefit plans to identify employers with a high number of terminated vested participants who were not receiving payments and who had not received a lump-sum payout.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to Treasury & Risk, part of your ALM digital membership.

  • Critical Treasury & Risk information including in-depth analysis of treasury and finance best practices, case studies with corporate innovators, informative newsletters, educational webcasts and videos, and resources from industry leaders.
  • Exclusive discounts on ALM and Treasury & Risk events.
  • Access to other award-winning ALM websites including PropertyCasualty360.com and Law.com.
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.