New Hampshire 401k
Posted by Tamara
The majority of the health and pension plans established by private industry are covered under ERISA (Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974). This law applies to employees in New Hampshire and across the country. ERISA was enacted to set minimum standards for health and pension plans, including 401k plans, and to protect the employees in these plans.
The Employment Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) was established to enforce ERISA, and can be contacted at 866-444-3272. If an employee suspects his or her funds are being misused, he or she should phone the EBSA as quickly as possible. The sooner the problem is reported, the better the chances of recovering the money.
Some New Hampshire employers ask what actions could indicate that their funds are being misappropriated.
To illustrate, suppose New Hampshire employee Bob Miller enrolls in the 401k plan offered by his employer. His contributions are regularly deducted from his paycheck, but he never sees these contributions on his 401k statement. It is possible Bob’s employer is misappropriating money from Bob’s 401k account.
Bob must quickly contact the EBSA. He can also check with his state’s Department of Labor. There are some states with laws that mandate all employers make good on promises made regarding employee benefits.
Unfortunately, EBSA receives a lot of these types of calls. In 2006, over $25 billion in employee benefit funds was recovered by the U.S. Department of Labor. A lot of these funds were used by company officers for their own personal use. Some employers misappropriated the money to stem the tide of poor cash flow, but others spent the money on houses, condos, cars and jewelry.
In one case of note, a union in California used employee benefit funds to renovate the union-owned golf course.
What makes the situation worse is that the $25 billion represents only a fraction of the funds that were taken. According to some estimates the recovered money makes up a mere fourth of what the employers misappropriated.
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