Sec. 31-71j. Automatic enrollment retirement plans.
Sec. 31-71j. Automatic enrollment retirement plans. (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Automatic enrollment" means a plan provision in an employee retirement plan
described in Section 401(k) or 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or any
subsequent corresponding internal revenue code of the United States, as from time to
time amended, or a governmental deferred compensation plan described in Section 457
of said Internal Revenue Code, or a payroll deduction Individual Retirement Account
plan described in Section 408 or 408A of said Internal Revenue Code under which an
employee is treated as having elected to have the employer make a specified contribution
to the plan equal to a percentage of compensation specified in the plan until such employee affirmatively elects to not have such contribution made or elects to make a contribution in another amount; and (2) "automatic contribution arrangement" means an arrangement under an automatic enrollment plan under which, in the absence of an
investment election by the participating employee, contributions made under such plan
are invested in accordance with regulations prescribed by the United States Secretary
of Labor under Section 404(c)(5) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974, as amended from time to time.
(b) Any employer who provides automatic enrollment shall be relieved of liability
for the investment decisions made by the employer on behalf of any participating employee under an automatic contribution arrangement, provided:
(1) The plan allows the participating employee at least quarterly opportunities to
select investments for the employee's contributions between investment alternatives
available under the plan;
(2) The employee is given notice of the investment decisions that will be made in
the absence of the employee's direction, a description of all the investment alternatives
available under the plan and a brief description of procedures available for the employee
to change investments; and
(3) The employee is given at least annual notice of the actual investments made on
behalf of the employee under such automatic contribution arrangement.
(c) Nothing in this section shall modify any existing responsibility of employers or
other plan officials for the selection of investment funds for participating employees.
(d) The relief from liability of the employer under this section shall extend to any
other plan official who actually makes the investment decisions on behalf of participating employees under an automatic contribution arrangement.
(P.A. 08-118, S. 2.)