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Part 11 · Chapter 2

Pooled Employer Plans, Pooled Plan Providers, and Participating-Employer Duties

Law stated as of October 3, 2026 · Multiple-Employer and Small-Employer Arrangements

Scope and status

This chapter covers the pooled employer plan (PEP) created by the SECURE Act: the statutory conditions a plan must satisfy to be a PEP, who may be a pooled plan provider (PPP) and what a PPP must do, the DOL Form PR registration regime, the fiduciary architecture and what the participating employer still owes after joining, prohibited-transaction and conflict exposure, fees and disclosure, reporting and audit, and exit. Scope discipline: the underlying §413(c) MEP mechanics are in the MEP structure chapter; the one-bad-apple exception and the participating-employer-failure sequence are in the unified plan rule chapter. Related questions are treated elsewhere: general fiduciary doctrine, §406/§4975, and exemption analysis in Part 3 (Fiduciary Duties and Prohibited Transactions); and Form 5500 mechanics in Part 4 (Reporting, Disclosure, Recordkeeping, and Claims).

Sections

Part A is shown in full. The other sections are listed by title; their text is available to subscribers.

Part A — What a PEP Is

A1.The statutory definition

Part 11, ch. 2, § A1

A pooled employer plan is an individual account plan established or maintained for the purpose of providing benefits to the employees of two or more employers, which is a qualified plan under §401(a), a plan consisting of IRAs described in §408 (including §408(c) accounts), or (since SECURE 2.0 §106) a §403(b) plan, and whose terms satisfy the conditions in A2. Statute: ERISA §3(43), 29 U.S.C. §1002(43); Code §413(e). A PEP is expressly not a plan maintained by employers with a common interest other than having adopted the plan, and not a multiemployer plan; a plan established before December 20, 2019 is not a PEP unless its administrator elects PEP treatment and the plan meets the PEP requirements. Statute: ERISA §3(43)(A) (common-interest exclusion), (C)(i)–(ii).

A2.The required plan terms

Part 11, ch. 2, § A2

A PEP's governing document must: designate a pooled plan provider and provide that the PPP is a named fiduciary; designate one or more named fiduciaries (other than a participating employer) responsible for collecting contributions (SECURE 2.0 §105 replaced the former trustee requirement) and implementing written contribution collection procedures that are reasonable, diligent, and systematic; provide that each participating employer retains fiduciary responsibility for the selection and monitoring of the PPP and any other named fiduciary and — except to the extent the PPP delegates to another fiduciary, and subject to §404(c) — for the investment and management of the portion of plan assets attributable to that employer's employees; provide that participating employers, participants, and beneficiaries are not subject to unreasonable restrictions, fees, or penalties on ceasing participation, receiving distributions, or transferring assets under ERISA §208/Code §414(l); require the PPP to furnish employers the disclosures DOL requires and require each employer to take the actions DOL or the PPP determines necessary for compliance; and permit electronic delivery designed to impose only reasonable costs. Statute: ERISA §3(43)(B), as amended by SECURE 2.0 Act §105.

A3.Bonding

Part 11, ch. 2, § A3

Every PEP fiduciary and every person who handles PEP funds or other property must be bonded for at least 10% of the funds handled, unless a §412(a) exemption applies (for example, an SRO-bonded registered broker-dealer, or a supervised bank-trust or insurance corporation meeting the capital-and-surplus test), and the ERISA §412 bond maximum for a pooled employer plan is $1,000,000 rather than the ordinary $500,000. Statute: ERISA §412(a).

Part B — The Pooled Plan Provider

  1. B1Who qualifies, and the four statutory conditionsSubscribers
  2. B2What the PPP actually has to doSubscribers
  3. B3Registration — Form PRSubscribers

Part C — The Participating Employer's Retained Duties

  1. C1Selection and monitoring is a fiduciary act, and it does not go awaySubscribers
  2. C2What delegation actually buysSubscribers
  3. C3The duties that stay with the employer regardlessSubscribers

Part D — Conflicts, Prohibited Transactions, and Fees

  1. D1The structural conflictSubscribers
  2. D2DOL's open question — and what it means todaySubscribers
  3. D3Fee disclosure runs in both directionsSubscribers

Part E — Reporting, Audit, and Market Context

  1. E1Filing and auditSubscribers
  2. E2Market contextSubscribers

Part F — Exit and Termination

  1. F1The employer's exitSubscribers
  2. F2PPP failure or departureSubscribers

The first Part of each chapter is open to everyone. The remaining sections, with their authority and practice points, are available to subscribers and to clients of ERISA Benefits Law Group, PLLC whose engagement includes access.

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