The Labor Department's rule allowing electronic disclosures for retirement plans haslanded at the Office of Management and Budget forapproval.Retirement industry officials applauded Labor for sending the final rule to OMB and hope it's reviewedand published quickly. OMB reviews can take up to 90 days.
|Related: Large employers ready for electronicdisclosure rule but AARP has reservations
|"Although we do not know what, if any, changes have been madesince the proposed rule, it is even more important thanever to have workable electronic disclosure rules due to themassive company shutdowns and social distancing required forCOVID-19," Jan Jacobson, senior counsel of Retirement Policy at theAmerican Benefits Council in Washington, toldThinkAdvisor in a Monday email message.
|It's impossible "right now for most companies to post notices inthe workplace that will be seen by all employees," Jacobson said,and "the service providers that companies hire to print and mailpaper copies of notices are generally shut down as well."
|Companies and their employees, Jacobson added, "have been forcedto use electronic communications for virtually everything else. Itonly makes sense to use electronic communications to conveyessential benefit information."
|Brian Graff, CEO of the American Retirement Association, agreedthat COVID-19 has "heightened the need for electronicdisclosure."
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