Pay Attention To Requests For ERISA Plan Documents Or Risk The Con$equence$

Every so often an employer sponsoring an ERISA employee benefit plan will receive a written request from a participant or beneficiary (or their legal counsel) to provide plan related documents. Sometimes the request asks for specific documents and sometimes the request is broader, asking for all instruments under which the plan is established or operated, or words to that effect. What the employer does with that request is important. In a recent decision from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina (Kinsinger v. Smartcore, LLC (August 26, 2019)), the court assessed an employer a $41,140 civil penalty for failure to provide requested documents.

ERISA Section 104(b)(4) requires that a plan administrator must, upon written request of any participant or beneficiary, furnish a copy of the latest updated summary plan description, and the latest annual report, any terminal report, the bargaining agreement, trust agreement, contract, or other