For those of you that don’t know the Department of Labor is stepping up the amount of audits they perform for ERISA compliance. We have already had a couple clients get audited.
Health and welfare plans, Form 5500 filings, medical claims, prescription drug programs and plan documents are under scrutiny. The Department of Labor is identifying health and welfare plans that may have not filed their Form 5500 filings. When there is a pension plan there is usually a related health plan and the Department of Labor is seeking out families of funds to detect delinquent filings.
Their focus will be on the various plan documents and agreements that are the basis for the benefits being paid. Benefits must paid in accordance with plan documents and must be properly recorded in the statements.
This is a very brief overview. We have companies that can help with this and explain it in more detail. The audits are not fun and the fines are not cheap. If you don’t already have a plan and documents in place and/or if you are contacted by the DOL and are getting audited it is worth the money to contact someone that can help you get it done.