Labor Department Creates Search Tool for ‘Lost’ Retirement Savings

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is gathering data from retirement plan administrators on a voluntarily basis to establish an online search tool to help U.S. workers find lost retirement savings they earned. 

Retirement plans, including pension and 401(k) plans, sometimes lose track of workers owed benefits due to incomplete recordkeeping, people changing employers, and former employers closing and merging.

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2002 instructs EBSA to establish an online search tool to help missing participants and their beneficiaries find their retirement benefits by December 29. 

“The fundamental purpose of any retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act is to pay promised benefits, and the Retirement Savings Lost and Found database will be another tool to help plans do so,” said Lisa Gomez, EBSA assistant secretary. “Our goal, which we believe plan sponsors and administrators share, is making sure that workers and their beneficiaries receive the retirement benefits they earned and were promised. We need to work together to achieve that goal.” 

EBSA is seeking comments and ideas on how to improve the information request so that the database can successfully connect workers who have lost track of their retirement plan with the benefits they are owed. Written comments on the proposal should be submitted on or before June 17. 

Learn more about EBSA here.