ERISA fiduciary responsibilities are often described as the highest in the law. However, ERISA doesn’t specify any qualifications to become a plan fiduciary, and it also doesn’t specify any courses or training fiduciaries must complete. Yet nobody is born knowing how to be an ERISA fiduciary. In my practice over several decades I have seen company fiduciaries, plan committee members and investment advisors struggle to understand both their responsibilities and how to fulfill them.

When I did fiduciary training, I looked for written materials to provide to the fiduciaries. I was frustrated to find that too many guides were either so full of technical jargon that they were hard to follow or provided only generic advice. Many were also written by non-lawyers so they sometimes lacked a clear discussion of ERISA ‘s legal rules or the right takeaways from legal decisions.

This book is my attempt to fill the gap between aspiration and action by providing explanations in plain English of the many legal responsibilities fiduciaries must fulfill and “how to” guidance detailing the best ways in which fiduciaries can go about fulfilling those responsibilities. For example, ERISA counsel and the Department of Labor advise plan fiduciaries to do regular requests for proposals (RFPs) for service providers. I would often hear from clients that while they would like to do regular RFPs, they really didn’t know how to go about it. This book has a chapter setting out the steps to organize and complete an RFP. It also has chapters on best practices for setting up an effective plan governance structure and establishing compliance roadmaps such as a cybersecurity policy.

When fiduciaries fulfill their responsibilities well it is a win-win situation. They provide the best plan for their participants and lower their risk of losing a fiduciary breach lawsuit at the same time.

This book is intended to be a handbook to help them achieve both goals.