WASHINGTON – Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Chairman Bob Good (R-VA) sent a letter to Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su raising concerns over the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) and its failure to conduct investigations in a directed and timely manner. EBSA’s overreaching investigations are increasing compliance costs and ultimately hurting American savers.
In the letter, Foxx and Good write: “Disturbing reports from stakeholders indicate that EBSA is failing to conduct its enforcement in a timely manner, creating unacceptable burdens for retirement plan sponsors and negatively impacting retirement savers, retirees, and their families.”
The letter continues: “Prolonged investigations carried out by federal agencies, such as EBSA, create tremendous strain on retirement plan sponsors. Plan sponsors report that many of EBSA’s investigations have persisted for years while investigators assigned to these cases are turned over several times. … Plan sponsors also report there often appears to be no direction or purpose to the investigations, and they are trapped in investigations that lack an objective, an enforced progress schedule, or an endpoint.”
The lawmakers conclude by requesting:
A list of all open investigations by the initial date the investigation opened, the duration of the investigation, and the specific purpose of the investigation.
An explanation of any timeframes or internal guidance imposed on the timeliness of conducting and closing out investigations.
The criteria used to ensure investigations are timely and efficiently carried out and closed.
An explanation of the specific steps taken to close all persisting investigations and the consequences if investigations are allowed to languish beyond efficient timeframes.
