Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will publish a final rule May 27 expanding private employers’ ability to communicate retirement plan disclosures electronically. The change will reduce printing and mailing and "additional plan costs" by about $3.2 billion during the next decade, the department said in a statement.
• The rule may aid employers in recovering from pandemic-related disruptions. Plan representatives and service providers have reported difficulty and even inability to complete paper-based ERISA disclosures, a problem that electronic delivery options may solve, DOL said.
• Participants who prefer paper disclosures may opt to continue that service, DOL said. Under the rule, administrators may use a "notice-and-access model" to complete certain disclosures. They may also email disclosures directly to participants.

Dive Insight:

DOL is not the first agency to ease processes complicated by the novel coronavirus through technology. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced March 20 it would temporarily allow remote I-9 document review, a measure it extended for another 30 days in May.

Of course, the disclosure rule had been in the works before the pandemic. DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration proposed it Oct. 22, 2019, eliciting "several hundred written comments" from plan sponsors and fiduciaries, plan service and investment providers, retirement plan and participant representatives and others, the agency said.

"The rule will rely on widely available technology to keep workers and retirees informed about their plans, while still preserving the option to receive retirement information by mail," U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said in a May 21 statement. "As we look ahead to reinvigorating the American economy, the Department of Labor’s priorities include eliminating unnecessary burdens for employers that sponsor retirement plans and on addressing the needs of wage earners, job seekers, and retirees."