DOL Electronic Disclosure Rule Lands at OMB

By Melanie Waddell

News April 21, 2020 at 03:28 PM

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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."

— Check out DOL Floats Rule on Electronic Disclosures for Retirement Plans on ThinkAdvisor.

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