Participants in private retirement systems who receive their pension plan information electronically face the possibility of missing important information in part because of conflicting regulations, the Government Accountability Office said in a report.
Both plan providers and participants told the GAO that while the use of electronic disclosure is gaining in popularity because of decreased printing costs and the ease of delivering and saving information, privacy concerns and the possibility of data being sent to old email addresses was a concern.
The GAO recommended that the secretaries of Labor and Treasury work together to come up with "clear and consistent requirements for default electronic delivery of pension-related disclosures."
Recommended For You
It also urged that plan participants be sent periodic paper notices reminding them they have the right to change the delivery method of their plan information. The GAO recommended that plan participants be given the chance to opt out of all electronic delivery of notices.
The GAO provided a draft of the report to the Treasury and Labor departments as well as the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corp. The Labor Department was the only one of the three to respond in writing.
In a letter to the GAO, Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis Borzi said the department's regulations already allows participants to opt out of electronic delivery of benefits notices. Borzi said the two agencies should work together to ensure regulations are consistent. She said the sending of periodic paper notices was worth considering.
Two Democratic lawmakers, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., released the report and called on the GAO to investigate further whether the current systems used for electronic delivery work for retirement plan participants.
"We should do everything we can to ensure that consumers have easy-to-understand, readily accessible information about their employer-sponsored retirement plans," said Harkin, who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. "That means clearing up any confusion under the law so that documents do not slip through the cracks. Americans need all the information they can get about their retirement plans so they make sound decisions about their future."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
