Benefits In Brief

After months of delay, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) today released final regulations under Section 408(b)(2) of ERISA, requiring retirement plan service providers to disclose information about their services and fees to plan sponsors.  In doing so, the DOL delayed the effective date of those rules and made minor modifications to them.  The final regulations defer the compliance date from April 1 to July 1, 2012.  As a consequence, plan sponsors will also have more time to comply with the related participant-level fee disclosure rules.

When is it appropriate to accept the sticker price listed on a product without asking the salesman for a better deal?  Maybe never, at least if you’re a fiduciary of a $2 billion 401(k) plan spending the participants’ money, according to a federal court in California.  (Tibble v. Edison International, 7/8/2010).  That’s true even if an independent consultant advises you to buy the higher-priced product.