ABGL Managing partner Lays Out What to Expect If Apprenticeship Fund Is Audited by DOL
Thursday, 03 November 2011 17:20
NEW ORLEANS—From the Department of Labor's perspective, many multiemployer apprenticeship and training plans are not operated in compliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Robert M. Archer, managing partner at Archer Byington Glennon & Levine in Melville, N.Y., said Oct. 31.
Because of this, the department is taking a harder look at apprenticeship and training plans. If DOL initiates an audit, the first step of the audit will include the plan receiving a document request or subpoena, Archer said at a session of the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans' annual conference.
While some plans may not want to contact an attorney upon receiving a document request, Archer said that it is very important to do so. The plan's attorney should then invite the DOL auditor to examine the documents at the attorney's office, not the office of the plan, he said.
Mistake to Allow ‘Unfettered Access.'
“I think it's a major mistake to let a DOL agent come up to your office and have unfettered access to these documents,” he told the audience. Plans may think they have nothing to hide, but the more information that is volunteered to the auditor, the worse off the plan could be, he said.
If the documents prompt more questions from the auditor, an interview will be scheduled, followed by a compliance letter the fund should respond to and meetings with agents from the Employee Benefits Security Administration, who will ultimately submit their findings.
If the DOL auditor identified potential violations, a settlement will have to be reached, or the case will be litigated.
“My experience is … that a large part of this—unless you have issues of criminality and then the rules may change a little bit—a large part of this is a conciliation effort,” Archer said.
While the investigator will not overlook violations, Archer said a lot of the issues an auditor may find can be solved in the investigation stage.
While it can depend on the DOL auditor, Archer said his experience has been the agents “may very well work with” the plans.