The Labor Department’s pension office is setting up a toll-free number this year to help answer questions and concerns of participants and employers, Alan Lebowitz, acting assistant Labor secretary, said today in a briefing on the agency’s fiscal 2002 budget request. The DOL expects to handle more than 190,000 such inquiries in the upcoming fiscal year, he said. Through its enforcement efforts, the agency hopes to recover more than $400 million on behalf of plan participants.
The department is asking for $500,000 in fiscal 2002 to set up a program that will offer expanded protection of assets in plans where participants cannot access their benefits because fiduciaries effectively have abdicated their responsibilities.
