Description of Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

Last updated: January 2025

EBSA is an agency within the DOL that administers and enforces Title I of ERISA, which establishes fiduciary and other standards for employee benefit plans sponsored by private-sector employers. EBSA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. and is directed by an Assistant Secretary who is appointed by the President and reports directly to the Secretary of Labor.

EBSA’s Office of Enforcement (OE) is responsible for overseeing the enforcement program and managing enforcement policy, and its Division of Investigative Strategies (DIS) is responsible for proposing, initiating, and conducting novel and challenging pilot program investigations. EBSA’s enforcement activities are conducted primarily in field offices located in 13 cities throughout the United States. The field offices employ hundreds of investigators and auditors, all of whom are highly skilled professionals. Many are lawyers or Certified Public Accountants and others have advanced degrees in business and finance.

EBSA shares responsibility with the Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation for the administration and enforcement of ERISA. EBSA helps to ensure the integrity and effective management of the private pension and welfare benefit system and protects the rights and financial security of hundreds of millions of employee benefit plan participants and beneficiaries, including workers in such diverse industries as communications, retailing, shipping, insurance, real estate and financial services. EBSA also has jurisdiction over individuals and companies providing services to employee benefit plans, such as investment advisors, trust departments, insurance companies, consultants and others.

EBSA conducts a wide range of enforcement activities, including civil and criminal investigations, to determine whether the provisions of Title I of ERISA and the sections of Title 18, as they relate to employee benefit plans, have been violated.