Orphan Plans - Part II (Posted June 15, 2004) Technical Tip 42: The following question and answer are from the DOL/EBSA website: The DOL has initiated a national program for identifying orphan plans and for ensuring that the benefits in those plans are distributed to participants and beneficiaries. A description of that program has been posted on the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) website. The next three DOL Q&As are based on that posting. The second question is: What is the EBSA doing to protect workers’ benefits? The Department has a national enforcement project on orphan plans to protect workers who are at risk of losing their retirement benefits. EBSA connects workers with their retirement savings from abandoned 401(k) plans by: Locating plan fiduciaries with authority to manage the plan; Requiring responsible plan fiduciaries to fulfill their duties, including federal filing requirements and distributing benefits owed to plan participants; Identifying and penalizing plan officials who fail to carry out their responsibilities; Obtaining a court-appointed fiduciary to oversee the orphaned plan, distribute the assets to eligible workers and their families, and if necessary, terminate the plan. The agency also works with other federal agencies including the Internal Revenue Service and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to help both individuals and financial institutions who may wind up as caretakers of orphan plans by default by streamlining the process of plan termination and distribution of assets. Comment by the RLR&C ERISA attorneys: When participants or service providers determine that a plan has been--or may have been-- orphaned, they should contact the EBSA through either calling the toll-free number of 1-866-444-EBSA (3272) or by emailing the EBSA at www.askebsa.gov. Alternatively, the director of the local region of the EBSA could be contacted. Contact information is on the DOL’s EBSA website at www.dol.gov/ebsa. View all Tips © 2012 Reish Luftman Reicher & Cohen, a Professional Corporation Important notice: Answers are provided as general guidance on the subjects covered in the question and are not provided as legal advice to the questioner's situation. Any legal issues should be reviewed by your legal counsel to apply the law to the particular facts of your situation.