Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) regulates most elements of employee benefit plans dealing with a wide variety of benefits such as pension, profit sharing and other retirement plans; health, disability, severance, and welfare plans. The Act essentially regulates benefit matters on a “cradle-to-grave” approach, dealing with issues ranging from required provisions in designing benefit plans to litigation rights of employees denied benefits and to rights and procedures in terminating employee benefit plans.