On May 21, 2020, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final regulation permitting electronic delivery of retirement plan participant disclosures that must be furnished under Title 1 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The electronic disclosure default is optional, simply providing an additional method of delivery, allowing plan sponsors to continue relying on the 2002 safe harbor for electronic delivery or provide disclosures in paper format through mail or hand-delivery, should they so choose.
A long time coming, the rule aims to make notices more accessible to employees, reduce the administrative burden for the employers, create efficiencies by leveraging technology, and potentially reduce plan costs. As a result, “electronic delivery” now includes both email delivery and website posting.
Although the plan administrator is relieved of some administrative burden, the following is required under the new rule:
The final rule will go into effect 60 days following the May 21 publication in the Federal Register; however, the DOL has indicated it will not take any enforcement action against a plan administrator that relies on this safe harbor before that date. As always, if you have any questions, please reach out to your Pensionmark advisor. We are here to help.