Retirement Income Security for Employees Act

Retirement Income Security for Employees Act - Title I: Organization - Establishes within the Department of Labor an Office of Pension and Welfare Plan Administration headed by an Assistant Secretary of Labor appointed by the President with Senate advice and consent. Provides that the functions, records and personnel of the Office of Labor Management Services Administration necessary for the administration of the Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act are transferred to the Office of Pension and Welfare Plan Administration. Requires that, unless exempt, the provisions of the Act apply to any pension or profit-sharing-retirement plan established or maintained by an employer, a union, or both together in any industry or activity affecting interstate commerce. Requires administrators of pension and profit-sharing-retirement plans to file applications with the Secretary of Labor for registration of such plans. Title II: Vesting and Funding Requirements - Requires that no pension or profit-sharing-retirement plan may require, as a condition of eligibility to participate in the plan, a period of service longer than one year or an age greater than 25, whichever occurs later, except that any plan which provides 100 percent immediate vesting upon entry into the plan may restrict participation to those who have attained age 30, or three years of service, whichever occurs later. Authorizes the Secretary to defer, in whole or in part, applicability of the vesting provisions for a period not to exceed five years from the effective date of such requirements where a plan makes a showing that the vesting requirements would increase the employer's costs or contributions to the plan to an extent that substantial economic injury would result to the employer and to the interests of the participants. Requires the Secretary to promulgate regulations governing funding of multi-employer plans that cover a substantial portion of the industry or employees in a specific geographic area to assure that such plans are provided with sufficient assets to cover benefits under the plan. Title III: Voluntary Portability Program for Vested Pensions - Establishes a voluntary program known as the Voluntary Portability Program for portability of vested pension credits. Requires that, plans which are members of this program are required to pay, to a central portability fund administered by the Secretary, monies representing the value of the participant's vested rights when he is separated from the plan prior to retirement. Establishes a Voluntary Portability Program Fund under the supervision of the Secretary into which payments will be made in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary under the portability program. Title IV: Plan Termination Insurance Program Established - Establishes a Private Pension Plan Termination Insurance Program administered by the Secretary, which requires plans to insure unfunded vested liabilities incurred prior to enactment of the Act, as well as after enactment of the Act. Requires the insurance program to insure participants against loss of vested benefits arising from plan termination. States that the Secretary shall make arrangements with employers on equitable terms for the reimbursement of insurance paid. Title V: Disclosure and Fiduciary Standards - Requires that annual reports filed are required to be accompanied by a certificate designating the Secretary as agent for service of process in any action arising under this Act. Restructures the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans so that it will serve as an advisory council for both the WPPDA and the Retirement Income Security for Employees Act. Title VI: Enforcement - Empowers the Secretary to petition the Federal courts to compel a pension or profit-sharing-retirement plan to comply with the Act or effect recoveries of moneys which may be due under the Act. Sets forth criminal penalties for interference with the rights of a pensioner or his beneficiary. Title VII: Effective Dates - Sets forth the effective dates for the provisions in this Act.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on January 15, 1973. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

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