Rep. Crowley Calls for Executive Order Requiring Auto-Enrollment

Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.), Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus, is leading a call for President Obama to issue an executive order to require government contractors to auto-enroll employees in retirement plans.

In a May 5 letter signed by more than 65 Democratic lawmakers, Crowley urges the president to require federal contractors to automatically enroll their workers in their traditional pension or 401(k) plan. For employers that do not currently offer a plan, the letter suggests they could make use of the federal “myRA” program, which was (re)launched last year.

The letter also asks that the executive order:

• apply to both full- and part-time employees; and

• include a requirement that employees will be considered immediately vested in whatever plan is being offered.

In April 2015, Crowley unveiled a proposal that would have required all American employers with 10 or more employees to open individualized retirement accounts for every employee if they did not already offer a retirement plan. These federally established “Secure, Accessible, Valuable, Efficient Universal Pension (SAVE UP) Accounts” would have had government oversight, private management, and a limited number of low-fee index fund options. Employers would have been required not only to set up the deductions, but also to contribute to either the new SAVE UP accounts or their existing workplace retirement accounts a specific, inflation-adjusted amount per hour for every worker.