The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recovered $1.4 billion for retirement, health and welfare plans in fiscal year 2025, reflecting continued enforcement activity even as total recoveries remain below recent highs.
EBSA said the $1.4 billion returned to plans, participants and beneficiaries represents a slight increase from the $1.384 billion recovered in fiscal year 2024, but remains below the $1.435 billion recovered in fiscal year 2023. In fiscal year 2025, EBSA closed 878 civil investigations and 253 criminal investigations. EBSA is responsible for investigating and enforcing the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which sets standards for private-sector benefit plans and protects participants and beneficiaries.
More than half of total recoveries, about $715 million, came from enforcement actions tied to 556 civil investigations. Recoveries for terminated vested participants accounted for a significant portion, helping 8,015 former employees in defined benefit pension plans collect $512.5 million in owed benefits.
Nearly half of all recoveries, $468.7 million, resulted from informal complaint resolutions handled by EBSA benefits advisors, who closed 222,246 inquiries during the year. Some complaints led to further enforcement. EBSA opened 291 investigations based on benefits advisor referrals and referred 75 cases for litigation.
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Additional recoveries came from targeted programs. The abandoned plan program returned $117.3 million. The Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP) allows plan fiduciaries to self-report and correct mistakes without facing penalties, resulting in $39.1 million in recoveries. EBSA also recovered $67 million through No Surprises Act (NSA) inquiries, which protect patients from unexpected out-of-network medical bills by requiring improper payments to be corrected rather than levying fines. Benefits advisors received more than 27,000 NSA complaints in 2025.
Non-monetary outcomes included removing 15 fiduciaries, barring 24 individuals from service, appointing 18 fiduciaries, improving missing participant procedures for 49 plans, implementing 61 global corrections and achieving 297 non-monetary civil corrections overall. Criminal investigations resulted in 62 indictments or initial charging events and 45 convictions involving plan officials, corporations and service providers.
EBSA highlighted how its enforcement translates into participant relief. In one example, participants in a frozen 401(k) plan received $33.6 million in distributions. Other cases led to over $22 million in payments from life insurance and claims administration corrections affecting thousands of participants and providers.
The agency oversees roughly 2.8 million health plans, 837,000 private pension plans and 521,000 other welfare benefit plans, covering 155 million workers, retirees and dependents, with assets totaling about $14.6 trillion.
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