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more_legal_areas erisaERISA legislation is the body of federal law that protects participants in pension and welfare benefit plans. ERISA legislation enacted standards in 1974 to protect individuals with these types of voluntarily established pension or other benefits plans that are maintained by an employer or an employer organization. Pension plans are established to provide people with retirement money or money after the termination of their covered employment. Other benefit plans can include health care plans or plans that provide disability benefits, prepaid legal services, day care, training benefits, death benefits, or similar services.
ERISA legislation statutes and amendments fall under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. This ERISA legislation requires that plan providers furnish plan information to their participants, manage and control plans with fiduciary responsibilities, and create an avenue through which a participant can report grievances. ERISA legislation also gives plan participants the right to sue providers for benefits or in the case of breech of fiduciary duty.
Fiduciary duty means that a plan provider must always act with the best interest of plan participants in mind. Plan providers are responsible for making annual reports regarding plan information, and must disclose this, and other information to plan participants is a fair and open manner. Under ERISA legislation, fiduciary duty requires that a plan provider work to ensure that a participant rightfully receives entitled benefits, and that administrative costs are deferred from participant expenses.
Since the initial creation of ERISA legislation, there have been additional amendments added to this body of law that extends additional rights to plan participants. The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) allows some workers to continue to receive benefits for a certain period of time following events like the loss of employment. The ERISA legislation amendment titled the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects workers and families with existing medical conditions who may otherwise face discrimination in health care coverage.
Other ERISA legislation includes the Newborn''s and Mother''s Health Protection Act, the Mental Health Parity Act, and the Women''s Health and Cancer Rights Act. All of this ERISA legislation is aimed at protecting participants of health care, pension, and other benefits plans.
The Department of Labor and Treasury, in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service, is responsible for creating and enforcing ERISA legislation. These governing agencies have the authority to bring civil action against ERISA violators, to conduct investigations of potential ERISA legislation violation, and to impose penalties on organizations who are found in violation of ERISA legislation. For more information on ERISA legislation, you may wish to speak to a qualified attorney who can help.
Enron Corp. has tentatively agreed to settle ERISA lawsuits over employee pension fund claims. Enron is the energy trader whose 2001 collapse resulted in corporate governance and accounting changes.
Under the proposed agreement, Enron woul...
A suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, charging Krispy Kreme executives “failed to manage prudently and loyally” the assets of the retirement plans “by continuing to offer the plans’ assets in the compa...
Conseco Inc., a Carmel, Indiana based insurer, has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed by employees alleging violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) for stock losses related to the company’s 2002 ...