New regulations are becoming effective soon and there will be more coming. Please take the time to review your 401(k) plan periodically to protect yourself and your employees.

To deal with these challenges: 1. If you haven’t done so already, get to work pronto on the fee disclosures due August 30. The first step is to determine whether your service providers have fulfilled their regulatory obligations by supplying the fee information – including the specific services being provided for each amount – to your company.

2. If you’ve received this information, set to work interpreting these documents. This can be a lot tougher than it sounds, as some plan providers are burying pertinent information in lengthy documents. If, at the outset, this task seems too difficult or time-consuming, consider hiring an independent fiduciary advisor to assist you with this, as well as with benchmarking your fees against the market. Using a fiduciary can significantly reduce your company’s liability.

3. If service providers have failed to supply the required fee information, document this by writing to them and requesting speedy submission. This can insulate you from liability for not disclosing the information to employees on time. If these providers don’t respond immediately (after all, the deadline is fast approaching), protect your company by blowing the whistle on them with the DOL.

4. Prior to making the fee disclosures this month to employees, notify them in meetings and/or in emails of what is coming their way. Tell them this is the first step in a process to review – and, possibly, to lower – fees and to improve service, including the provision of better plan education. Again, an independent advisor can help with this.

5. Throughout this notification/disclosure process, document all questions that employees ask and the answers they receive. This helps manage your legal and regulatory liability, and it helps you develop the best answers to give when the same questions come up again.

Your service provider may have buried the necessary information in mounds of paper work. If this is the case, please seek the assistance of an independent fiduciary. These regulations may seem daunting and very confusing, but with the proper help easily accomplished.

Please comment or call to discuss.