WASHINGTON—Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) introduced the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Act to increase accountability and transparency within the U.S. Department of Labor’s EBSA investigations process.
The legislation comes in response to growing concerns from organizations that have faced lengthy, obscure, and burdensome investigations by the EBSA with little communication or clarity from investigators. The bill would also require the EBSA to share detailed information with Congress on its investigations to end its unchecked authority.
“Washington bureaucrats should not be able to harass job creators and plan sponsors under the guise of oversight without transparency or recourse,” McClain said. “Businesses and nonprofits are simply trying to provide for their employees, and the last thing they need is endless red tape. This bill restores fairness to the process and demands accountability from unelected regulators.”
"Congress granted investigative authority to EBSA to protect workers’ benefits. Unfortunately, bureaucrats drove EBSA from its intended purpose and bogged down retirement plans with investigations that often take years. This legislation will provide much needed transparency and stop future administrations from playing politics with Americans’ retirement,” Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said.
“ERIC applauds the introduction of the EBSA Investigations Transparency Act. Regulators should see plan sponsors as key partners in enhancing health care and retirement security. Unfortunately, too many employers report never-ending audits and investigations relating to their benefit plans. These fishing expeditions have shifting scope, moving goalposts, and burdensome demands for irrelevant information. This bill would bring needed transparency to ensure efficient, predictable enforcement of the laws governing worker benefits,” James Gelfand, President & CEO, The ERISA Industry Committee said.
To read more about the bill, click here.
Background:
Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) created the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) to enforce the Title’s provisions. The EBSA was created to protect the rights of workers, retirees, and families who are beneficiaries of private retirement plans, health plans, and other welfare benefit plans.
Despite this mission, there are reports from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), that EBSA is failing to conduct its enforcement in a timely manner. The May 2021 GAO report found that 17 percent of all investigations opened in 2017 were still open four years later. Plan sponsors have reported that investigations often appear without direction of purpose, trapping them in endless document requests, interviews, and investigator questions.
