To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued important guidance (“Guidance”) for retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries on their obligations to find missing participants entitled to retirement plan benefits. Retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries are at greater risk given the uptick in missing participant audits by the DOL. (More information on missing participant audits is available here.) The Guidance generally addresses the following three components of missing participant issues facing retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries: (1) locating terminated vested participants in defined benefit plans, (2) best practices for managing missing participants, and (3) participation in the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (“PBGC’s”) Missing Participants Program for terminating defined contribution plans. The DOL states that the Guidance does not have the force and effect of law and is intended only to clarify existing requirements.