EBSA Enforcement Action Remains Brisk, Recovering Over $2.5 Billion

The enforcement and benefit advisor programs of the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration do not appear to be slowing down much, with robust activity in fiscal year 2019. 

The enforcement program alone recovered more than $2 billion from its investigations – up from $1.6 billion in FY 2018 – including $1.1 billion from enforcement actions. 

Recoveries on behalf of terminated vested participants played a large role in these results. In total, EBSA’s enforcement program helped terminated vested participants in DB plans collect benefits of nearly $1.5 billion owed in the form of lump-sum payments, present value of lifetime annuity payments and interest. 

Recoveries Up, Investigations Down

While the agency recovered more money in FY 2019, the overall numbers for investigations and litigation eased up a bit. For FY 2019, EBSA closed 1,146 civil investigations with 770 of those cases (67%) resulting in monetary results for plans or other corrective action. The agency also referred 89 cases for litigation. In comparison, EBSA closed 1,329 civil investigations and referred 111 cases for civil litigation in FY 2018. 

EBSA’s criminal investigations reportedly led to the indictment of 76 individuals – including plan officials, corporate officers and service providers – for offenses related to employee benefit plans. In FY 2018, however, EBSA obtained indictments against 142 individuals.

EBSA notes that it continues to reach out to plan fiduciaries and others to participate in the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP) as well as the Delinquent Filer Voluntary

Compliance Program to correct ERISA violations. In FY 2019, EBSA received more than 20,000 delinquent filings and 1,600 applications for the VFCP, with corrections totaling $14.6 million during the fiscal year.  

The agency also continues to see large impacts in its Abandoned Plan Program. In FY 2019, 661 plans made distributions totaling more than $33 million to participants under the program. 

Meanwhile, advisors from EBSA’s Office of Outreach, Education and Assistance helped return $510 million through the office’s informal complaint resolution process. Those advisors also provided informal assistance to more than 166,000 individuals who were seeking assistance regarding employee benefit plans. 

In sum, total monetary recoveries for FY 2019 included:

• $2.02 billion from enforcement action; 
• $510 million from informal complaint resolutions;
• $33.2 million from the Abandoned Plan Program; and
• $14.6 million from the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program.

A fact sheet detailing the agency’s enforcement program results is available on EBSA’s website, here.