ERIC worked closely with New York City lawmakers and allied organizations to shape the city-administered retirement savings program established by Int. 888-18.
While ERIC generally supports these efforts to expand access to retirement savings, we urged the City Council to make several critical amendments to the proposal to avoid conflicts with federal ERISA law and prevent a potential legal challenge of the city program in the future.
The City Council incorporated ERIC’s recommendations by including an exemption for employers who have offered a retirement plan in the preceding two years, increasing the minimum age of employee participation from 18 to 21 years, increasing eligibility standards to require 20 hours of regularly scheduled work per week, and allowing self-employed individuals to participate in the program. A contingency clause was also added that would wind down the city program if the State of New York establishes a retirement savings program requiring a similar method of retirement contribution and coverage.