401k

How can we advise our staff to enroll?

The Board of Trustees set up the Plan with an array of investment options, including the Vanguard Target Date funds, as well as a stable value fund and two socially responsible equities.

Once a Local’s Participation Agreement has been accepted by the Benefit Funds, if there is sufficient interest among the local’s staff, Prudential can arrange to send a knowledgeable retirement specialist to educate your staff on retirement planning and the investment options available through the Plan.

What does the Local’s participation entail?

The Participation Agreement should be completed and executed by an Officer or authorized representative and returned to the Fund office for acceptance.  Upon acceptance for participation, enrollment materials will be generated by Prudential and sent to the Local’s contact (named in the Participation Agreement).

The Local’s Human Resources personnel and Payroll personnel may need to establish procedures to include the following functions:
  • Distribution of enrollment materials and processing of new enrollments
  • Processing payroll deductions and changes to deferral percentages
  • Timely remittance of contributions and loan repayments, so as not to incur penalties for lost earnings
  • Appointment of a staff member to monitor the Plan on Prudential’s Plan Sponsor website
  • Updating participant status and address on the Plan Sponsor site (or communicating same to the Benefit Fund office and/or Prudential’s Client Rep)
  • Recordkeeping for compliance and audit purposes

Why choose to subscribe in the plan for your officers and employees?

In addition to your pension plan, a 401(k) provides another vehicle to enable staff to save for a well-deserved retirement.  Contributions are pre-tax deferrals, thus providing an immediate tax benefit.  Participants can also rollover account balances from all eligible plans of former employers.  Each participant has 24/7 online access to their own account and lots of retirement education planning materials.

Do we have to prepare and file a 5500 or perform annual compliance testing?

Absolutely not.  The SEIU Benefit Funds works with Prudential, as well as the Fund’s independent auditing firm, to prepare all legal and tax filings.  One of the services provided by Prudential is the annual compliance testing – the Local must furnish basic payroll details as requested, but all testing calculations are performed by Prudential’s Compliance Unit.

How much will participation cost the Local?

The Local is billed for a modest share in the Plan’s overall fiduciary expenditures by the Fund, based on the number of participant accounts with a balance in the Local’s subscription on the last day of each quarter—regardless of whether the participant is still employed by the Local or not.