ERISA Compliance Consulting Services provides consulting services for ERISA covered plans including Qualified Retirement Plans and Welfare Plans. Plans that services are provided to include:
- Plans sponsored by single employers;
- Plans sponsored by non-profit organizations,
- Plans set up pursuant to collectively bargaining agreements (Taft-Hartley plans)
- Plans sponsored by professional employer organizations (PEO)
The Managing Partner, David M. Kahn, Esq. has more than 25 years’ experience with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) and is an expert with respect to the standards that are required to be complied with by each of the types of plans described above. He has worked with EBSA, the Internal Revenue Service, and the U.S. Attorney’s office on both civil and criminal cases as well as state agencies of states located throughout the country.
ERISA imposes complex responsibilities and restrictions on fiduciaries of employee benefit plans, and sets the standards for the operation (administration) and the investment of plan assets. In addition ERISA establishes the bonding and reporting and disclosure requirements for both employee benefit plans and their fiduciaries. Finally in recent years ERISA has imposed new requirements for service providers to plans particularly with respect to the investment community.
Although ERISA provisions can be both complex and confusing, ERISA Compliance Consulting has developed a very simple three point’s approach that provides a quick understanding to ERISA’s fiduciary rules:
- A fiduciary must be wise in making all decisions with respect to the manner in which the Plan is operated, in other words not be foolish;
- A fiduciary must not make any decisions that would appear to benefit him or her in any way, or put another way must not be greedy;
- A fiduciary must not steal or act fraudulently or put another way must not be wicked.
If you are a Plan Sponsor, Trustee, Plan Administrator, or Service Provider, it would be in your interest to engage a company such as ERISA Compliance Consulting Services to engage in Fiduciary Audits, Compliance Reviews, and transactional reviews (contracts unique transactions) in order to prevent violations before they occur and to limit the ramifications that can occur as result of an EBSA investigation. It is important that you seek a professional expert in this area.