Recently, a client brought me in to review a defined contribution plan document given to them by a service provider to create their new plan. In the document, it makes reference to regular investment committee meetings, a benefit committee and an appeals committee. When I asked my client about who would serve on those committees, he confessed to me that not only had he not thought about it, but he was not really aware that the document said these committees would even exist. I would imagine he is not the only person with a benefit plan that might not be aware of the requirements of administration contained in his plan.
Whether or not committees are necessary to have or good for plan administration is a topic for future debate. But what this anecdote does bring up is a reminder that plan administration is governed by the terms of the written plan. ERISA provides some pretty broad protections to diligent plan fiduciaries, but those protections are limited in that a fiduciary has to follow the terms of the plan document to get them. In many respects, the plan documents serve as a promise to participants about the constancy with which the plan will be administered and courts, when reviewing fiduciary decisions, hold fiduciaries to those promises.
