Employee Benefits Security Administration EBSA

When the Studebaker auto plant closed in 1963, thousands of workers lost most of the pensions they had been promised, a case that helped drive a decade of reform. President Ford signed the Employee Retirement Income Security Act on Labor Day, September 2, 1974, setting federal standards for private employee benefit plans. The Labor Department office that enforces it was renamed the Employee Benefits Security Administration in 2003 and is led by an Assistant Secretary.

ERISA does not require employers to offer benefits, but it regulates the plans they do offer. EBSA oversees hundreds of thousands of retirement plans, from traditional pensions to 401(k) accounts, and millions of employer health and welfare plans covering well over a hundred million people. It requires plan managers to act as fiduciaries, solely in the interest of participants, enforces reporting and disclosure rules, investigates plan mismanagement, and, with Treasury and HHS, enforces health coverage rules such as mental health parity. Pension insurance is handled separately by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

The question of who counts as a fiduciary when giving retirement investment advice has been fought over for more than a decade, with rules issued in 2016 and 2024 blocked by courts. In August 2025 the President directed the department to revisit guidance so that 401(k) plans could more easily offer private equity, cryptocurrency, and other alternative assets. Supporters said savers deserve access to the same investments as institutions, while consumer advocates warned of higher fees, less transparency, and greater risk.