404(c) compliance: duties to non-english speaking participants?

[EGB]

Is there any guidance on the duties owed to non-english speaking participants in order to comply with 404©? Even if there is no guidance, any thoughts on whether one would fail to comply with 404© if a prospectus is supplied in English to a non-English speaking participant?

In our situation, the employer wants to comply with 404©and has a few employees who only speak Spanish. The employer does not want to go to the expense of having each prospectus printed in Spanish. Any thoughts or experiences in this area?

[Guest Jose Rosario]

Beth, although I am unaware of any foreign language requirement under 404©, I think you'd be well served to provide the Spanish speaking participants with a Notice in Spanish similar to the Notice that is required for SPDs under DOL Reg. S. 2520.102-2©. Its a pretty simple Notice; it cannot hurt to provide it regardless of whether the Employee population meets

the 10%/500 Employee threshholds under the Reg. You may want to see if there are Spanish reps and/or prospectuses available, also.