In light of all the Affordable Care Act disclosure requirements, and with the year-distributions required for retirement plans, employers seem to be thinking more and more about distributing benefit plan notices electronically. Perhaps companies want to post them on a company website or e-mail them to employees, but there is no question that mailing paper notices to employees becoming a less preferred option. Unfortunately though, it is the preferred method for plan communications from a regulatory perspective. ERISA does permit the electronic disclosure of certain plan communications under certain circumstances. But employers should be very careful.
