T
t_burns13
Guest
What is the name of your state? Massachusetts
I work as the office manager for a company that administers their own 401K plan. I am the only office person and I report directly to the president of the company. Since the company administers it’s own 401K plan the responsibility falls to me to figure out how many shares to purchase for each person. I send the check in to the mutual fund company and then record how many shares each person has purchased so I can provide them with their individual reports. My boss is the trustee of the plan and makes all of the decisions for the plan. I have been looking for a company to administer the plan for us because I feel it would be in the best interest of the participants since neither myself nor my boss are qualified to run a 401K plan. I do not participate in the plan for the same reason. Every financial planner or 401K administrator I speak with tells me that our plan is out of compliance, illegal in every way etc. Every time I speak with someone new I report to my boss what they have said. He says he is not concerned with fiduciary liability. I’ve just read that I may have fiduciary liability because I am involved in the administration of the plan. Is this true?
Yesterday a former employee who still has his retirement funds in the 401K called because he found an error in one of his statements. The amount he specified was not withheld from his paycheck to be deposited into the mutual fund. He feels he has lost money because of this mistake. I was not employed with the company at the time this mistake occurred. I would like to tell this person to take the paperwork he has and get advice from someone who knows how a 401K is supposed to be run. Can I tell him this? Do I have a legal responsibility to tell him this? Certainly if I do have fiduciary responsibility in this situation I will tell my boss I won’t have anything to do with the company 401K plan until it is administered according to ERISA guidelines even though it could mean loosing my job. Based on previous actions I believe my boss feels he is above the law. They fire people on a regular basis just to keep other employees on their toes.
I work as the office manager for a company that administers their own 401K plan. I am the only office person and I report directly to the president of the company. Since the company administers it’s own 401K plan the responsibility falls to me to figure out how many shares to purchase for each person. I send the check in to the mutual fund company and then record how many shares each person has purchased so I can provide them with their individual reports. My boss is the trustee of the plan and makes all of the decisions for the plan. I have been looking for a company to administer the plan for us because I feel it would be in the best interest of the participants since neither myself nor my boss are qualified to run a 401K plan. I do not participate in the plan for the same reason. Every financial planner or 401K administrator I speak with tells me that our plan is out of compliance, illegal in every way etc. Every time I speak with someone new I report to my boss what they have said. He says he is not concerned with fiduciary liability. I’ve just read that I may have fiduciary liability because I am involved in the administration of the plan. Is this true?
Yesterday a former employee who still has his retirement funds in the 401K called because he found an error in one of his statements. The amount he specified was not withheld from his paycheck to be deposited into the mutual fund. He feels he has lost money because of this mistake. I was not employed with the company at the time this mistake occurred. I would like to tell this person to take the paperwork he has and get advice from someone who knows how a 401K is supposed to be run. Can I tell him this? Do I have a legal responsibility to tell him this? Certainly if I do have fiduciary responsibility in this situation I will tell my boss I won’t have anything to do with the company 401K plan until it is administered according to ERISA guidelines even though it could mean loosing my job. Based on previous actions I believe my boss feels he is above the law. They fire people on a regular basis just to keep other employees on their toes.