Church Plans

[Guest Jennifer Donald]

For church plans exempt from ERISA, who oversees the actions of fiduciaries? Who do participants contact if there are fiduciary violations in the operation of the Plan?

[Guest Danny Miller]

In the absence of ERISA coverage, state fiduciary laws govern the obligations fiduciaries owe church plans. There is thus no one regulatory authority to which participants can look, if that is your question. If a participant believes there has been a fiduciary breach, that issue would have to be analyzed under applicable state law, and then the participant could, if there is in fact a fiduciary breach, pursue that claim in the appropriate judicial forum (in the absence of a state regulatory agency that might review, or provisions in the plan document for resolving, such a claim). Let me know if I have not correctly understood your question.