"Has anyone ever heard of this company? A client of mine just told me they called her (with a heavy accent) and said they represented my firm and were doing an independent review of the plan. We all know about cold calling based on public DOL data (nothing to do about that) and even scare tactics using the Judy Diamond 'score', but saying they represent me is a a new low."

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"US company was purchased by a UK company and we're winding the plan down. The US people are all gone -- at least anyone in any management capacity. Can the person who is handling the plan at the UK company sign as Plan Administrator (and/or Plan Sponsor), or does that have to be a US citizen? All I can find is that it has to be signed under threat of perjury, which makes me think that the signer must be subject to US law."

"Client has a plan with self-certification of hardships. All requests are automatically approved based on employees 'signing off' that they have the required proof of hardship. Client did an audit and found an employee was abusing this, contacted them, and found that they have been taking Hardships without any immediate need.

"Client is looking for guidance on how to correct this. Initial thought was that the employee should repay what was taken that didn't have proof, however, the legal team at the provider stated that this wasn't allowed. They were given the following:

'The sponsor of a retirement plan that allows hardship distributions cannot reclaim a hardship distribution after it has been disbursed to the participant. Rather, the sponsor can refuse to approve a hardship request prior to distribution if the participant is deemed not to have an immediate and heavy financial need or if the sponsor has actual knowledge that the participant's self-certification of hardship is false. The plan sponsor does not have the authority to 'reclaim' money already distributed because hardship distributions are subject to taxes and potentially a 10% penalty. Reclaiming the money would essentially be canceling an early withdrawal, which isn't permitted under IRS rules after the funds have been paid out.'

"Is this correct? I feel like I have seen this done at other places I have worked. If this is allowed, and the participant does not work with the client to pay back the funds, what should be done in that case?"