As a plan fiduciary for hundreds of millions of dollars and with a lot of ERISA knowledge, I can see things a mile away.
One of the plan providers that work on one of my plans showed me a litany of complaints by participants accusing multiple plan providers of getting the blackout notices out late and because he lacked access to his 401(k) plan, he wanted $3,000 to make his complaint go away. A review of the work by these plan providers showed that notices were done timely. I guessed correctly that this was the work of a former employee, an actual higher-earning official who didn’t leave on the best of terms. Aggrieved former employees are more likely to make complaints than current employees, that is a fact. This always reminds me of the religious Jewish plan administrator who accused my Jewish bosses of discrimination and was fired for lying about his work hours (the front door FOB lock doesn’t lie), and all he wanted was a quick$3,000 settlement. This is what I call a smash and grab, where someone alleges some. ERISA issues and just want a couple of thousand to go away.
The best defense to these claims is a plan that follows all the rules and regulations set forth for qualified retirement plans.
