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Ohio 401k

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Is there an Ohio or federal law regarding 401k contributions? What should an HR manager do if she thinks that 401k contributions are being misappropriated in Ohio? Deductions are made from all the employee’s checks, but the 401k statements don’t show any deposits.

The Ohio employer in this situation may have misappropriated some funds that were supposed to go into the employee’s 401k account.

When employees are suspicious about where their benefits monies are going, they should contact the Employee Benefits Security Administration, or EBSA, right away.  EBSA can be reached at 866-444-3272.  It is essential that such suspicions be reported as soon as possible, so that EBSA will have a greater opportunity of being able to recover the funds.

In some states, all employers are required by law to make good on any promised benefits.  For specifics about the laws in individual states, contact the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor within the state that you are interested in learning about.  Note that the exact name of this organization may differ between states.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration is responsible for enforcing the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.  This act is enforceable in Ohio, as well as the rest of the United States.  It is a federal law that establishes certain minimum standards for most private industry health and pension plans that were voluntarily established.  The law also offers protection for people who have investments in these plans.

It should be mentioned that ERISA does not provide protection for plans that are maintained strictly to comply with disability, unemployment, or workers compensation laws.  It also does not cover any plans that are maintained outside of America for the benefit of unfunded excess benefit plans or nonresident aliens.

These types of situations are all too common.  Approximately $25 billion in misappropriated employee benefit funds was recovered by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2006.  Unfortunately, that was only about 25% of the original amount taken.

Sometimes, the U.S. Department is able to recover the majority of, or all of, the funds that have been misappropriated from employees.  In other cases, however, only a portion of the original amount can be recovered. JH