ERISA Preemption

[benpat3]

I know I already posted this in another section, just not sure where to put it, so thought I would ask in this part.

Does ERISA preempt state unclaimed property laws regarding benefit plan expenses, such as professional fees and other miscellaneous bills, that are not benefits to participants, etc? These are non-benefit related checks. We know ERISA preempts state unclaimed property laws regarding benefit payments.

For example, if a benefit office pays the bills for the various plans and send checks to a lawyer or banker for services and those checks are never cashed, should the benefit office turn the money over to the state under the states unclaimed property laws. Does the answer change if the bill is for landscaping outside the benefit office and has absolutely no connection to benefits provided to participants?

[Ron Snyder]

Does ERISA purport to pre-empt unclaimed property laws? Not at all. It only seeks to regulate employee benefit plans of non-governmental employers.

However, ERISA does provide a procedure that avoids state escheat laws, as you suggest. Those provisions do NOT apply to other payments that are not protected by ERISA such as the ones you describe. Those amounts should be turned over to the state's unclaimed property office after the appropriate time period.

[david rigby]

Duplicate postings are awkward:

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=39303