The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association has agreed to restore more than $27 million to three association-sponsored employee benefit plans covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.  The agreement came on the heels of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration that found the association selected itself as a service provider to the plans, determined its own compensation and made payments to itself that exceeded the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's direct expenses in providing services to the plans, in violation of ERISA.

"Workers should be able to have confidence that their hard-earned retirement savings are being properly managed," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "This settlement benefits tens of thousands of NRECA plan participants by reducing their plan administration costs."

Under terms of the agreement, NRECA will not provide administrative services to the NRECA Retirement Security Plan, the NRECA 401(k) Plan and the NRECA Group Benefits Plan without entering into a written contract or agreement with the plans that must be approved by an independent fiduciary. The independent fiduciary must determine whether the use of NRECA to provide administrative services to the plans is prudent and reasonable, determine the categories of direct expenses that NRECA may charge to the plans and the methods of calculating those expenses, and monitor NRECA's compliance with certain terms of the agreement.