DOL’s ‘Lost and Found’ Database Gets a Boost

The SECURE 2.0 Act’s creation of an online searchable lost and found database at the Department of Labor (DOL) to help American workers find lost retirement savings benefits has moved one step closer to becoming a reality. 

The Technology Modernization Fund (TMF)—which invests in technology projects across government, providing incremental funding, technical assistance and oversight—announced that it is investing nearly $3.5 million at the DOL to help establish the online registry. 

“One of the best parts of my job is to leverage the power of technology to make government interactions better for the American people—especially those most in need,” Clare Martorana, Federal CIO and TMF Board Chair, said in a statement. “Our TMF investment in DOL will change the lives of people searching for unclaimed retirement benefits—those they’ve worked hard to earn and deserve to enjoy.”

As directed by SECURE 2.0, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) project will help establish an online public “lost and found” registry, allowing over 153 million workers, retirees and their families who are covered by private employment retirement plans and other welfare benefit plans to search for benefits that may still be owe to them. By the same token, every year there are employers ready to pay benefits to retirees, but they are unable to find the retirees because the former employees changed their names or addresses. 

In fact, EBSA’s missing participant program has already made a difference by connecting participants and beneficiaries to lost or forgotten retirement benefits. Since 2021, EBSA has recovered more than $4.2 billion for such “missing” participants, according to the announcement. 

“Ensuring workers can obtain the benefits they are entitled to is one of EBSA’s most important missions,” added Lisa Gomez, Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security at the DOL. “We are excited to have the opportunity to connect millions of America’s workers and other plan beneficiaries with their lost retirement benefits by putting this tool at their fingertips.”

Section 303 of SECURE 2.0 directs the creation of the database no later than two years after the date of enactment, which was Dec. 29, 2022, so essentially by January 2025. The nearly $3.5 million TMF investment aims to help establish the online registry.

The TMF, which falls under the purview of the General Services Administration and is comprised of government IT leaders, has received $225 million through the annual budget process and $1 billion through the American Rescue Plan to fund governmental modernization projects.