Document
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Request for Assistance From the Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration
The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting this Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)-sponsored information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and ...
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) maintains a program designed to provide education and technical assistance to participants and beneficiaries as well as to employers, plan sponsors, and service providers related to their health and retirement plan benefits. EBSA assists participants in understanding their rights, responsibilities, and benefits under employee benefit law and intervenes informally on their behalf with the plan sponsor in order to assist them in obtaining the health and retirement benefits to which they may have been inappropriately denied, which can avert the necessity for a formal investigation or a civil action. EBSA maintains a toll-free telephone number through which inquirers can reach Benefits Advisors in ten Regional Offices. EBSA has also made a request for assistance form available on its website for those wishing to obtain assistance in this manner. Contact with EBSA is entirely voluntary.
The collection of information is an intake form for assistance requests from the public. This information includes the plan type, broad categories of problem type, contact information for responsible parties, and a mechanism for the inquirer to attach relevant documents. Summary data from the existing intake form has also been used, in accordance with section 513 of ERISA, to respond to requests for information regarding employee benefit plans from members of Congress and governmental oversight entities, and to inform the policy formulation process. For additional substantive information about this ICR, see the related notice published in the
Federal Register
on August 25, 2023 (88 FR 58312).
This information collection is subject to the PRA. A Federal agency generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of information, and the public is generally not required to respond to an information collection, unless the OMB approves it and displays a currently valid OMB Control Number. In addition, notwithstanding any other provisions of law, no person shall generally be subject to penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information that does not display a valid OMB Control Number.
See5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6.
DOL seeks PRA authorization for this information collection for three (3) years. OMB authorization for an ICR cannot be for more than three (3) years without renewal. The DOL notes that information collection requirements submitted to the OMB for existing ICRs receive a month-to-month extension while they undergo review.
Agency:
DOL-EBSA.
Title of Collection:
Request for Assistance from the Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration.
OMB Control Number:
1210-0146.
Affected Public:
Businesses or other for-profits.
Total Estimated Number of Respondents:
14,991.
Total Estimated Number of Responses:
14,991.
Total Estimated Annual Time Burden:
7,496 hours.
Total Estimated Annual Other Costs Burden:
$0.
(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D))
Michael Howell,
Senior Paperwork Reduction Act Analyst.