ERISA Reporting

ERISA imposes "standards of conduct, responsibility and obligations for fiduciaries of employee benefit plans..." which extend beyond the obligations that apply to other categories of "parties in interest."

There are specific requirements for, among other things:

• Establishing a plan
• Designating a fiduciary
• Managing plan funds prudently
• Delegating responsibility and obtaining insurance and bonding
• Precluding certain persons from being fiduciaries
• Avoiding fiduciary responsibility (for oneself and for the acts of others)
• Defining prohibited transactions

ERISA also specifies penalties for fiduciaries that fail to fulfill obligations, and provides other remedies that are available to participants and beneficiaries. Establishing and maintaining a pension plan subject to ERISA requires a written document that specifies one or more fiduciaries.

The document must specify the funding mechanism that will be used to achieve the plan's objectives. The document must also describe any procedure that designated plan fiduciaries will use for delegating operational and administrative responsibilities, as well as identifying the person(s) given authority to amend the plan and laying out the amendment procedure.

Finally, the plan document must specify the basis for making payments to and from the plan and provide a procedure for making claims.

TIAA-CREF offers suggested wording for plan documents and summary plan documents, using language suitable to meet ERISA requirements. TIAA-CREF can provide sample documents which may be tailored to the needs of your institution. However, since TIAA-CREF cannot give legal advice and your institution may have unique needs, your legal counsel should always review your draft documents.