{"id":1639,"date":"2016-01-02T01:18:08","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T01:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2017-01-03T16:20:29","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T16:20:29","slug":"erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we begin the new year, many enterprises are establishing or reviewing their pension, 401(K) and defined benefit plans. Surety One, Inc. would like to remind you that U.S. Codes, ERISA section 412 and related regulations (29 C.F.R. \u00a7 2550.412-1 and 29 C.F.R. Part 2580) require that fiduciaries\u00a0of employee benefit plans and every person who handles funds or other property of such plan, be covered by appropriate\u00a0ERISA fidelity bonds<\/strong>. ERISA\u2019s fidelity bonding requirements are intended to protect employee benefit plans from risk of loss due to fraud or dishonesty on the part of persons who \u201dhandle\u201d plan funds or other property of its beneficiaries. An\u00a0ERISA bond<\/a><\/strong> must be equal to at least ten percent of the amount of funds he or she handles, subject to a minimum bond amount of $1,000 per plan with a maximum of $500,000. Plans that contain\u00a0non-qualified assets such as property or mortgages, limited partnerships, valuable art, etc., must be covered by a fidelity bond that is equal to no less than 100% of the plan value. DON\u2019T IGNORE THIS OBLIGATION. The Department of Labor monitors\u00a0compliance with\u00a0the ERISA fidelity bond<\/strong> requirement. The bond must also be reported on a specific report\u00a0form. Plan sponsors and administrators are obligated to file a federal Form 5500 annually, which asks this very question. Civil AND criminal penalties are associated with failure to comply and have been\u00a0prosecuted for failure to fulfill this very basic statutory requirement.<\/p>\n

So what happens if your plan suffers a Department of Labor<\/a> (EBSA) audit and you do not have the required ERISA\u00a0fidelity bond<\/strong><\/a>? Where no plan loss have occurred the responsible fiduciary generally runs at least the risk that he\/she will be assessed the \u201ctwenty percent fiduciary penalty\u201d under ERISA Section 502(l). In the case where a fiduciary breach resulted in damages to the plan, the failure to have an ERISA bond is a federal code violation in and of itself. Failure to purchase an ERISA fidelity coverage, leaving the plan unprotected against an act of dishonesty or fiduciary breach by an individual who should have been bonded, may spread personal liability for those acts to a plan sponsor, member of management or other party serving in a fiduciary role even if that party had NO fault for the loss.<\/p>\n

Bear in mind that this bond follows a particular\u00a0format. A fiduciary liability policy is NOT sufficient to comply with the law. The Department of Labor has provided a specific directive and advice on this very matter in its Field Assistance Bulletin (No. 2008-04). The Director of Regulations stated that, “Fiduciary liability insurance generally insures the plan against losses caused by breaches of fiduciary responsibilities.” This is NOT sufficient. While the Code does ALLOW plans\u00a0to purchase fiduciary coverage it is not obligatory and cannot take the place of proper ERISA fidelity bonds.<\/p>\n

The nation\u2019s surety leader, Surety One, Inc., is a specialist in surety and fidelity bond underwriting. We are one of the largest producers of ERISA bonds<\/a><\/strong> in the nation. Our knowledge, extensive experience with these instruments\u00a0and our broad fidelity underwriting authorities allow us to fulfill your fidelity bond need immediately.<\/p>\n

We offer the following coverages as well as plans that consist of some blend of the same:<\/p>\n

ERISA fidelity bonds for plans with non-qualifying assets<\/strong>;<\/p>\n

ERISA fidelity bonds for ESOPs<\/strong>,<\/p>\n

ERISA bonds for labor union and multi-employer plans<\/strong>;<\/p>\n

ALL of these fidelity bonds can be written on primary basis to $5 million and\u00a0excess layering above the $5 million standard limit. Surety One, Inc.<\/strong> is a bond underwriter licensed in all fifty states, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. All of our surety companies appear on the U.S. Treasury’s list (T-List) of carriers acceptable for federal obligations. Bonds are issued withing one hour and retro-dating is available.\u00a0Visit us at http:\/\/www.ERISA-Bonds.com<\/a>, call (800) 373-2804, or emailUnderwriting@SuretyOne.com for application materials or further information.<\/p>\n

#erisa #erisabond #erisabonds #SuretyOne<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we begin the new year, many enterprises are establishing or reviewing their pension, 401(K) and defined benefit plans. Surety One, Inc. would like to remind you that U.S. Codes, ERISA section 412 and related regulations (29 C.F.R. \u00a7 2550.412-1… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1641,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[5,6,7,251,105,106,51],"yoast_head":"\nERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016 • Surety One, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Surety One, Inc. would like to remind you that U.S. Code requires that fiduciaries of employee benefit plans be covered by an\u00a0ERISA fidelity bonds.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016 • Surety One, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Surety One, Inc. would like to remind you that U.S. Code requires that fiduciaries of employee benefit plans be covered by an\u00a0ERISA fidelity bonds.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Surety One, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Surety1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Surety1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-02T01:18:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-01-03T16:20:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pablo-3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SuretyOne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SuretyOne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"C. Poindexter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Surety One, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Our Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pablo-3.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pablo-3.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/\",\"name\":\"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016 • Surety One, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-02T01:18:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-03T16:20:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d34de27c146d5df3d1fb94d9b0c04605\"},\"description\":\"Surety One, Inc. would like to remind you that U.S. Code requires that fiduciaries of employee benefit plans be covered by an\\u00a0ERISA fidelity bonds.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d34de27c146d5df3d1fb94d9b0c04605\",\"name\":\"C. Poindexter\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.SuretyOne.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Surety1\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SuretyOne\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016 • Surety One, Inc.","description":"Surety One, Inc. would like to remind you that U.S. Code requires that fiduciaries of employee benefit plans be covered by an\u00a0ERISA fidelity bonds.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016 • Surety One, Inc.","og_description":"Surety One, Inc. would like to remind you that U.S. Code requires that fiduciaries of employee benefit plans be covered by an\u00a0ERISA fidelity bonds.","og_url":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/","og_site_name":"Surety One, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Surety1\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Surety1","article_published_time":"2016-01-02T01:18:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-01-03T16:20:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pablo-3.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@SuretyOne","twitter_site":"@SuretyOne","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"C. Poindexter","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/","name":"Surety One, Inc.","description":"Our Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pablo-3.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/pablo-3.png","width":1024,"height":512,"caption":"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/","name":"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016 • Surety One, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-01-02T01:18:08+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-03T16:20:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d34de27c146d5df3d1fb94d9b0c04605"},"description":"Surety One, Inc. would like to remind you that U.S. Code requires that fiduciaries of employee benefit plans be covered by an\u00a0ERISA fidelity bonds.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/erisa-fidelity-bonds-for-2016\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ERISA Fidelity Bonds for 2016"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d34de27c146d5df3d1fb94d9b0c04605","name":"C. Poindexter","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.SuretyOne.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Surety1","https:\/\/twitter.com\/SuretyOne"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1804,"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1639\/revisions\/1804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/suretyone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}