In his latest installment of the Benefits Bulletin, Andrew S. Williams discusses the intricacies of employee severance packages.

The Secure Act 2.0 involves many benefit-related matters including changes to the prior law. The relief offered by this act applies both to affected participants and their beneficiaries as well as the fiduciaries responsible for plan operations, including the employer which sponsors the plan; however, this is not blanket relief.

Retirement plan retention requirements are pretty clear. The retention lapses that do occur both in the Estate of Barton case and in our experience usually result from business acquisitions where the acquiring business either does not receive or fails to retain the “forever” records of the acquired entity. So, any due diligence checklist in a business acquisition should contain a detailed inquiry about the target’s “forever” records. And yes, you can retain your own forever records electronically in accordance with applicable Department of Labor regulations.