The private sector is showing an uptick in interest in multiple employer retirement plans, according to testimony James Kais, vice president of Transamerica's national retirement practice, gave to a bi-partisan roundtable hosted by the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
That is in spite of a 2012 U.S. Department of Labor advisory opinion that Kais said halted the formation of multiple employer retirement plans, which are known as MEPs, by requiring a shared nexus or commonality, such as membership in a trade association, among sponsors participating in a multiple employer plan.
Over the course of President Obama's administration, several legislative proposals, reams of industry research and even findings from the ERISA Advisory Council have singled out multiple employer plans as necessary to address the savings shortfall of millions of Americans employed by small businesses that don't offer retirement plans. According to the Labor Department, about 3 million businesses with less than 100 employees don't offer a retirement plan.
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