ERISA Rules of the Road
Experts recommend retirement plans conduct fiduciary education and training sessions at least annually and any time a new member joins the plan committee. Reported by Beth Braverman Art by Alex Eben Meyer In this era of record-level Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation, it’s become even more important for plan sponsors and plan committee members to understand their roles and legal responsibilities as fiduciaries. “Under ERISA, the concept of being a fiduciary is a functional one,” says Julie K. Stapel, a partner in Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. “That means if you do things that make you a fiduciary, then you are one, regardless of whether you intended to be or if your governing documents say that you are. That’s why governance is so important.” Anyone who has discretionary authority and control over plan assets or plan administration is a fiduciary, and that typically includes all members of a plan committee. Plan fiduciaries must act in the best...