Are Your Benefits in Compliance with DOL Fiduciary Rules?

Are Your Benefits in Compliance with DOL Fiduciary Rules?

Are Your Benefits in Compliance with DOL Fiduciary Rules?

Dealing with benefits can be extremely rewarding when you see the positive impact it makes on an employee and their family. However, when it comes to certain benefits, compliance and legality can become an overwhelming concern for employers.

So, how do you aim to keep yourself and your plan safe from the Department of Labor? It is important to understand both, your fiduciary responsibilities and the considerations you must make to comply.

Here’s what our Preferred Partner, Oswald Financial, had to say:

The same fiduciary standards apply, whether the plan sponsor hires someone to manage the plan, or does some or all of the plan management itself. The plan sponsor remains a fiduciary with respect to selecting and monitoring investments for the plan unless working with a 3(38) fiduciary (including default investments for automatic employee contributions), meeting conditions for fiduciary liability relief for these investments, hiring a service provider and disclosing information to participants, and reporting to Government Agencies, among other decisions.

Q: What can a plan sponsor do to endeavor to comply with the DOL fiduciary rules?

A: There are several steps you can take to help maintain compliance with DOL rules, including:

  • Review your existing relationships with plan service providers to identify who may be treated as a fiduciary under the DOL rules.
  • Review any written agreements with service providers to ensure compliance with the new regulations.
  • Refresh your knowledge of fiduciary best practices.
  • Review any education materials with your financial advisor to determine if there are inadvertent investment recommendations.
  • Make sure that employees working on various aspects of the plan understand the fiduciary rules.
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