I recently received a question about the obligations of a plan administrator to provide specific notices to plan participants and whether model notices existed for each required participant distribution.  Unfortunately the short answer to that question is "no" there are not that many model notices available.  While the new model COBRA notices are available for plan administrators and employers to modify and distribute, most disclosures are simply left open to interpretation.

The Department of Labor has issued a Reporting and Disclosure Guide for Employee Benefit Plans that sets out what notices, disclosures and reports are required of plan administrators for various plans.  They are broken down primarily between required documentation for all plans, welfare plans and retirement plans.  Obviously plan documents and summary plan descriptions are required and there are multiple requirements for contents to those documents.  But on top of these, there are multiple required notices and disclosures that plan administrators have to provide.  Sometimes these are on an annual basis, or they can be "as needed."  Either way, it is incumbent upon the plan administrator to know what it is they have to distribute and when.

Rather than simply repeat everything in the DOL guide, I recommend that plan administrators and sponsors read through this guide to make themselves aware of all the required documentation.  If you are missing a particular notice or document, or are unfamiliar with what is required, please contact your legal counsel or plan service provider to obtain an explanation of what is required and get them to assist in the preparation of required notices.  I firmly believe that this new COBRA notice and reporting will cause more plan audits because there will be more participant complaints.  So use this new flurry of activity to bring your plans completely into compliance.