PLANSPONSOR - January - February 2024 - 13

GAO learned that stakeholders had a mix
of those.
A representative with a consumer
advocacy organization for pension and
retirement security said the missing
participants effort is a " valuable oversight
program that has been very effective
based on the amount of money recovered
per investigator. " But
representatives
from a health-care research organization
said EBSA has " missed opportunities
to provide proactive consumer
support to participants in the health-care
plans it oversees. "
" Since EBSA enforcement inquiries
are often based off participant
complaints,
representatives
suggested
EBSA should provide more education
and outreach to plan participants that
TIDBITS
Higher Ed Could Gain From Researching PEPs
With simpler administration, lower costs, easier
accessibility for part-time and adjunct workers, etc.,
pooled employer plans can be a boon to higher
education institutions. Yet most schools do not have
a PEP, a Transamerica survey found.
* 83% said their main plan is a single-employer
plan; 13% said a pooled solution; 4% didn't know.
* Pooled solutions are more common among
not-for-profit institutions than among their faithbased
or for-profit counterparts.
* Most institutions (62%) with a single-employer
plan have not explored the possibility of a
pooled solution and have no plans to do so.
* A small minority (6%) are considering
a pooled solution, and 9% plan to explore
a pooled solution in the near future.
* Nearly 1 in 5 (19%) faith-based institutions
expressed plans to explore a pooled solution
in the near future.
Source: Transamerica, " Retirement Plan Trends in Higher Education 2023 "
83%
13%
4%
Don't know
Single-employer
plan
Pooled solution
may not understand their plan or how to
seek assistance when they require planrelated
support, " the report states.
Although EBSA officials said they
use many strategies to manage declining
resources, the GAO stated that the agency
lacks a clear or systematic decisionmaking
process for doing so.
One strategy EBSA officials cited
was calculating and planning resource
reallocations for MEWAs-and detailing
the resource needs in a white paper.
However, the agency's process for using
white papers to calculate resource reallocations
is not acknowledged in planning
documentation, the GAO wrote.
EBSA planning documents also
noted that, if the agency received a lower
funding amount than requested, some
programs and priorities would have to
be modified. The GAO report reveals,
however, that these documents offer no
detailed plan for reallocating resources to
accommodate the modifications.
" For example, the goal for transitioning
and preparing staff hired for the
missing participants program was not
included in the planning documents we
reviewed, " the report states.
It is unclear how EBSA would
respond to increased responsibilities,
unanticipated funding or funding that is
lower than requested, the GAO wrote.
The GAO recommended that the
secretary of Labor " direct EBSA to
develop a process for oversight responsibilities
and allocating staff in a changing
budget environment. " -Remy Samuels
Have not explored
and don't plan to
62%
9%
11%
6%
12%
Have not explored
but plan to
Have explored and
decided against
Have explored and
are considering
Don't know/Not sure
PLANSPONSOR.COM January - February 2024 13
http://www.PLANSPONSOR.COM
PLANSPONSOR - January - February 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANSPONSOR - January - February 2024
