By Pension and Benefits Editorial Staff
During fiscal year 2020, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recovered more than $3.1 billion in payments to plans, participants, and beneficiaries, the agency has announced. The agency also provided a fact sheet detailing the results of its FY 2020 efforts.
Civil investigations. In FY 2020, EBSA closed 1,122 civil investigations with 754 of those cases (67 percent) resulting in monetary results for plans or other corrective action. In total, EBSA’s enforcement program helped over 29,600 terminated vested participants in defined benefit plans collect benefits of over $1.48 billion.
Criminal investigations. EBSA also investigates potential violations of ERISA’s criminal provisions. In FY 2020, EBSA closed 230 criminal investigations. EBSA’s criminal investigations, as well as its participation in criminal investigations with other law enforcement agencies, led to the indictment of 70 individuals, including plan officials, corporate officers, and service providers, for offenses related to employee benefit plans.
Abandoned plans. The Abandoned Plan Program facilitates the termination of, and distribution of benefits from individual account pension plans abandoned by their sponsoring employers. During FY 2020, EBSA received 1,161 applications from Qualified Termination Administrators and closed 1,110 applications with terminations approved. In total, 882 plans made distributions of $54 million directly to participants pursuant to such terminations.
Education and outreach. EBSA also conducts education and outreach events for workers, employers, plan officials, and members of Congress. Through FY 2020, EBSA conducted a total of 3,420 outreach events.
SOURCE: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20201027
