On January 2, 2009, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) published a final rule which authorizes the Secretary of Labor to assess civil penalties of up to $1,000 per day for failures to disclose certain documents to participants, beneficiaries, and others as required by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as amended by the Pension Protection Act (PPA) in 2006. The new rule, which becomes effective on March 3, 2009, will be codified at 29 C.F.R. § 2560. 

ERISA sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans. Under ERISA, plans must provide participants with plan information including important information about plan features and funding.  The PPA set forth several new disclosure requirements, including: (1) plan administrators of single-employer defined benefit pension plans must provide written notice of limitations on benefits and benefit accruals to participants and beneficiaries within 30 days of a plan becoming subject to ERISA; (2) plan administrators of multiemployer pension plans must, upon written request, furnish certain documents to any plan participant, beneficiary, employee representative, or any employer that has an obligation to contribute to the plan; (3) a plan sponsor or plan administrator of multiemployer employee benefit plans must, upon written request, furnish to any employer with an obligation to contribute to such plan, notice of potential withdrawal liability; and (4) the plan administrator of a plan with an automatic contribution arrangement shall provide to each participant, to whom the arrangement applies, notice of the participant’s rights and obligations under such arrangement. The new civil damages provision will apply to any violation of these disclosure requirements.