CARES Act: 5 areas sponsors should focus on to help retirement plan participants

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Provisions in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020 have many benefit sponsors scrambling to make sure their company retirement plans are in compliance with the new regulations, should they choose to implement them. Plan sponsors know time is of the essence to help employees during this crisis. That’s where the CARES Act comes into play. If certain criteria (see below) are met, the CARES Act allows individuals to take a coronavirus-related distribution (CRD) from their retirement account to mitigate the financial impact of the pandemic.

Over the past two months, more than 36 million people have filed unemployment claims. However, over the next several months, more businesses will add employees to their payrolls, which will help lower the country’s unemployment rate that is near historic highs (currently around 14.7 percent).