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The Labor Department's rule allowing electronic disclosures for retirement plans has landed at the Office of Management and Budget for approval.Retirement industry officials applauded Labor for sending the final rule to OMB and hope it's reviewed and published quickly. OMB reviews can take up to 90 days.
"Although we do not know what, if any, changes have been made since the proposed rule, it is even more important than ever to have workable electronic disclosure rules due to the massive company shutdowns and social distancing required for COVID-19," Jan Jacobson, senior counsel of Retirement Policy at the American Benefits Council in Washington, told ThinkAdvisor in a Monday email message.
It's impossible "right now for most companies to post notices in the workplace that will be seen by all employees," Jacobson said, and "the service providers that companies hire to print and mail paper copies of notices are generally shut down as well."
Companies and their employees, Jacobson added, "have been forced to use electronic communications for virtually everything else. It only makes sense to use electronic communications to convey essential benefit information."
Brian Graff, CEO of the American Retirement Association, agreed that COVID-19 has "heightened the need for electronic disclosure."
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
