Field Assistance Bulletins

Field Assistance Bulletins (or FABs) are written by the Office of Regulations and Interpretations to the Director of Enforcement and Regional Directors to provide guidance in response to questions that have arisen in field operations. FABs may also include transition enforcement relief that permits employers, plan officials, service providers and others time to respond to new laws or regulations.

**2004**
Document Number	Subject	Issue
Field Assistance Bulletin 2004-02	Fiduciary Duties and Missing Participants in Terminated Defined Contribution Plans	What does a plan fiduciary need to do in order to fulfill its fiduciary obligations under ERISA with respect to: (1) locating a missing participant of a terminated defined contribution plan; and (2) distributing an account balance when efforts to communicate with a missing participant fail to secure a distribution election?
Field Assistance Bulletin 2004-01	Health Saving Accounts	Whether Health Savings Accounts established in connection with employment-based group health plans constitute "employee welfare benefit plans" for purposes of Title I of ERISA?

**2003**
Document Number	Subject	Issue
Field Assistance Bulletin 2003-03	Allocation of Expenses in a Defined Contribution Plan	What rules apply to how expenses are allocated among plan participants in a defined contribution pension plan?
Field Assistance Bulletin 2003-02	Application of Participant ContributionRequirements to Multiemployer Defined Contribution Pension Plans	In the context of a multiemployer defined contribution pension plan, to what extent may collective bargaining, employer participation and similar agreements be taken into account in determining when participant contributions can reasonably be segregated from the general assets of participating employers?
Field Assistance Bulletin 2003-01	Participant Loans to Corporate Directors and Officers	May a plan administrator deny participant loans to directors and executive officers of the sponsoring employer of the plan on the basis that such loans may violate Section 13(k) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 without contravening the requirement of section 408(b)(1) of ERISA that loans be made available to all participants on a reasonably equivalent basis?