Who Is The Plan Administrator, And Who Are The Named Fiduciaries?
Every employer health plan has a plan administrator and at least one named fiduciary, whether or not anyone ever chose them. Here is how each role is set, and what happens when the plan document is silent.
What The Roles Cover.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Check the cited sources before you act.
ERISA For Employer Health Plans
Start here for how ERISA reaches an employer-sponsored group health plan.
Fiduciary Duties In Practice
The prudence and loyalty standards that attach once someone is a fiduciary.
Who Answers For The Form 5500
Why the plan administrator, not the carrier, carries the filing penalty.
Two Roles, Two Definitions.
ERISA Section 3(16)(A), 29 U.S.C. 1002(16)(A), defines the plan administrator as the person the plan document designates. If the document names no one, the plan sponsor is the administrator. For a single-employer plan, the sponsor is the employer.
ERISA Section 402(a), 29 U.S.C. 1102(a), is a separate requirement. Every plan must be established under a written instrument that names one or more fiduciaries who have authority to control and manage the operation and administration of the plan. These are the named fiduciaries.
The two roles often land on the same person or committee, but they do not have to. The administrator is the person participants and the Department of Labor look to for disclosures and filings. A named fiduciary is a person the document says can run the plan.
What Falls On The Administrator.
The administrator furnishes the summary plan description and its updates, sends summaries of material modifications, files the annual report on Form 5500, and answers participants who ask in writing for plan documents. A court can assess a penalty of up to $110 a day when a written request for documents goes unanswered past 30 days.
The administrator also runs the claims procedure required by 29 CFR 2560.503-1. The summary plan description has to name the administrator, along with an agent for service of legal process, under 29 CFR 2520.102-3.
Named fiduciaries carry the duties of prudence and loyalty in ERISA Section 404. They can also appoint and monitor others, which is where a benefits committee, an outside adviser or a service provider enters the picture.
Why Employers Often Do Not Know They Hold These Roles.
In many small and mid-size companies nobody was ever appointed. The carrier certificate names no plan administrator, so by default the company is both sponsor and administrator. In practice the administrator is whoever last signed the Form 5500 or answered the last document request.
That default has a cost. The filings and disclosure duties sit with the company, but no one inside it knows they own them, and when an owner or HR leader leaves, the role does not move with them because it was never assigned.
A contract with a third-party administrator to perform administrative tasks does not by itself change who the plan administrator is. Only the plan document can designate someone else, and fully insured carriers typically act as service providers, not as the administrator of your plan.
Where To Begin.
Find the plan document, or the wrap document that sits around your carrier certificates, and read the sections that name the administrator and the named fiduciaries. If all you have is a carrier certificate or a benefits guide, you probably do not have a plan document. That gap is explained in our guide on benefits guides and summary plan descriptions.
Write down who signed the most recent Form 5500 and who handles participant requests for documents. Those two answers show who is acting as administrator today.
Decide with ERISA counsel whether the company should stay the administrator or whether a named committee should be designated in the plan document. Record the decision in minutes or a short written designation.
Name positions rather than individuals, so the role survives a departure.
Common Misreadings.
Naming a fiduciary does not move liability off the employer. The employer that appoints fiduciaries must prudently select and monitor them, and anyone who exercises discretion over plan management is a fiduciary by function under ERISA Section 3(21)(A), even if no document names them.
Practice and paper have to match. If the plan says a committee decides appeals but HR actually does, the gap becomes evidence in a dispute.
A benefits guide is not a plan document, and neither is an employee handbook. Neither one designates an administrator or names a fiduciary.
Related Duties And Documents.
TPA Contracts And Fiduciary Roles
What an administrative services agreement can and cannot hand off.
Selecting And Monitoring Providers
The prudent-process duty that follows the appointment.
Participant Document Requests
The 30-day clock and what to send.
Laws And Sources
ERISA Section 3, 29 U.S.C. 1002: Definitions of administrator, fiduciary and plan sponsor.
ERISA Section 402, 29 U.S.C. 1102: The written plan instrument and named fiduciaries.
29 CFR 2520.102-3: Required contents of a summary plan description, including the administrator and agent for service of legal process.
29 CFR 2560.503-1: The claims procedure regulation.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Check the cited sources before you act, and bring plan-specific questions to ERISA counsel.
Quick Answers.
Short replies on this page’s topic, each tied to a fuller guide.
Who is our plan administrator if the plan document does not say?
Under ERISA Section 3(16)(A), the plan sponsor. For a single-employer plan that is the employer, even if no one inside the company knows it.
Is a named fiduciary the same as the plan administrator?
Not necessarily. The administrator is the person the plan document designates for disclosures and filings. A named fiduciary is a person the document says can control and manage the plan. One person or committee can hold both roles.
Can our carrier or TPA be the plan administrator?
Only if the plan document designates it. A service contract to handle claims or paperwork does not by itself change who the administrator is. Confirm the document and the contract with ERISA counsel.
Who is responsible for filing the Form 5500?
The plan administrator files it, so the penalty for a late or missing filing lands on the administrator named in the plan documents, which by default is the employer.
What if the person we named leaves the company?
If you named the individual, the role needs a replacement. If you named a position or a committee, it continues. Naming positions in the plan document avoids a gap.
More On Plan Administration.
ERISA For Employer Health Plans
The overview of what ERISA requires.
Who Must File Form 5500
The filing triggers and the small-plan exemption.
SMM And SAR Deadlines
The disclosure clocks the administrator keeps.
Claims Procedure And Appeals
What the administrator must run.
Fiduciary Lawsuits: What To Document
The records that matter in a dispute.
Handbook Is Not An SPD
Why a handbook cannot stand in for the plan document.
Settlor vs. Fiduciary Functions in Group Health Plans
Which plan decisions are business choices and which carry fiduciary duties.
PEOs and ERISA Plan Sponsor Roles
Who is the plan sponsor, administrator and filer when a PEO offers the plan.
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