When are SPDs distributed?
The SPD and a statement of ERISA rights must be furnished to plan participants by the later of 90 days after they enter the plan; or 120 days after the plan becomes subject to the ERISA filing requirements. Note that a copy of the SPD is to be filed with the Labor Department within 30 days of a DOL request.
Delivery. SPDs and other required disclosures must be sent to all participants of a welfare benefit plan by a method likely to result in full distribution. They may be personally delivered to an employee at his or her worksite. However, it is never acceptable merely to place copies of required disclosures in a location frequented by participants (such as a lounge or vending area).
They can be inserted in a periodical distributed to employees (such as a union newspaper or company publication) if its distribution list is comprehensive and up-to-date. In addition, a prominent notice must be placed on the first page of the periodical advising readers that the issue contains an insert with important information about the employee's rights under the plan and ERISA that should be read and retained for future reference.
Alternatively, required disclosures may be mailed by first-, second-, or third-class mail. Second- or third-class mail is acceptable, however, only if the return and forwarding postage is guaranteed and address correction is requested. If the material is returned with an address correction, it must be sent again, this time by first-class mail, or personally delivered at the participant's worksite. Materials furnished upon written request are to be mailed to an address provided by the requesting participant or beneficiary or personally delivered to him or her.
Foreign language assistance. Language assistance in understanding the SPD written in English is to be offered to participants who are literate only in a language other than English if 25 percent or more are literate only in the same non-English language (in a plan covering fewer than 100 participants). A plan that covers 100 or more participants, where the lesser of 500 or more participants or 10 percent or more of all plan participants are literate only in the same non-English language.
The SPD should prominently display a notice, in the non-English language common to these participants, offering assistance in the non-English language designed to give them a reasonable opportunity to become informed as to their rights and obligations under the plan. This notice should also clearly explain in the appropriate non-English language the procedures participants must follow in order to obtain such assistance. Assistance may oral counseling and need not involve any written material.