Most Common ERISA Requirements & Benefit of the Wrap
The DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recovered over $1.4 billion for retirement, health, and welfare benefit plans, participants, and beneficiaries in fiscal year 2022 through its enforcement of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). 66% of ERISA monetary recoveries were from enforcement actions for employee benefit plans or other corrective actions. As an employer, you may be thinking, “How can I reduce my risk and avoid ERISA violations?
ERISA was designed to protect employees enrolled in employer-sponsored health benefits and mandates that health plans must be in writing. The Summary Plan Description and Plan Documents are required and fill in the gaps of other documentation to help comply with federal regulations.
BASE® knows that keeping up with ERISA requirements to stay in compliance can be confusing, time-consuming, and overwhelming, so here is a quick overview of a few common violations and why having an ERISA Wrap can benefit employers.
- Not providing required documentation to participants. If an employer fails to meet the documentation requirements, the business could face fines and the risk of getting audited by the DOL or IRS. Having an ERISA Wrap ensures that employers can easily access and distribute documentation per federal guidelines to employees.
- Simplifying Form 5500 filing. Having an ERISA Wrap document in place simplifies the Form 5500 filing process by eliminating the need to file a separate Form 5500 for each health and welfare plan and allowing for a single Form 5500 for all benefits covered under the Wrap document.
Because ERISA can be one of the most challenging of all employment laws and regulations with violations that could be costly, having a third-party administrator to help develop the proper plan documents, while providing them on time, will help minimize compliance risks. In comes the BASE® ERISA Wrap, which wraps around existing certificates of insurance and benefit plan booklets to provide the required provisions and information and protect the plan and the employer from steep penalties and fines.
Call BASE® at 1.888.386.9680 or visit www.BASEonline.com for more information.
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