When I started my own law practice almost 10 years ago, I was very frank in my comments on LinkedIn about the need for plan sponsors to understand their fiduciary responsibility and keep their 401(k) plans in order to minimize their fiduciary liability. This consultant to brokers who had a penchant for getting into squabbles in the discussions in LinkedIn groups accused me of several other forward-thinking 401(k) experts that we were selling fear. This consultant claimed that small to medium-sized plans never got sued and I retorted that litigation is the least of a 401(k) plan sponsor’s worries, that the greater fear was an audit from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and/or the Department of Labor (DOL). Based on some audits I’ve gone through, I’d prefer litigation. This article is a wakeup call for 401(k) plan sponsors that their biggest worry concerning their fiduciary responsibility is an audit from the IRS and/or the DOL.
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