ERISA

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What is ERISA? ERISA is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act which sets uniform minimum standards for establishing employee benefit programs in a fair and financially sound manner. The purpose of this paper is to explain the history and purposes of ERISA. Within this paper the questions: What circumstances prompted the enactment of ERISA? , What types of benefits does ERISA protect? and How does ERISA protect these benefits? , What are some requirements that ERISA imposes on plan administrators?Circumstances which prompted the enactment of ERISAIt was said that President John F. Kennedy began ERISA in 1961 when he created the President's Committee on Corporate Pension Plans. In 1963 when the Studebaker Corporation closed its plants; their poorly planned pension ...

... the plan to the Labor Department and provide it to participants upon request. These summaries must be in understandable terms. This information is also made available for public inspection. The administrators must also provide if requested a calculation of the employees accrued and vested pension benefits. Administrators have fiduciary responsibility to the participants and to the plan. The administrators must also carry out his or her duties in a sensible manner and must refrain from conflict-of-interest transactions. The administrator must comply with limitations on certain plans' investments in employer securities and properties and must fund benefits in accordance with the law and plan rules (Tennessee employment law center, 2008). In 1974, ERISA was one of

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