72
STAT.]
PUBLIC LAW 85-836-AUG. 28, 1958
997
Public Law 85-836 AN ACT To provide for registration, reporting, and disclosure of employee welfare and pension benefit plans. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act". TABLE OF CONTENTS WELFARE AND PENSION PLANS DISCLOSURE ACT
Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec. Sec.
2. Findings and policy. 3. Definitions. 4. Coverage. 5. Duty of disclosure and reporting. 6. Description of the plan. 7. Annual reports. 8. Publication. 9. Enforcement. 10. Effect of other laws. 11. Separability of provisions. 12. Effective date. FINDINGS A N D POLICY
SEC. 2. (a) The Congress finds that the growth in size, scope, and numbers of employee welfare and pension benefit plans in recent years has been rapid and substantial; that the continued well-being and security of millions of employees and their dependents are directly affected by these plans; that they are affected with a national public interest; that they have become an important factor affecting the stability of employment and the successful development of industrial relations; that they have become an important factor in commerce because of the interstate character of their activities, and of the activities of their participants, and the employers, employee organizations, and other entities by which they are established or maintained; that owing to the lack of employee information concerning their operation, it is desirable in the interests of employees and their beneficiaries, and to provide for the general welfare and the free flow of commerce, that disclosure be made with respect to the operation and administration of such plans. (b) I t is hereby declared to be the policy of this Act to protect interstate commerce and the interests of participants in employee welfare and pension benefit plans and their beneficiaries, by requiring the disclosure and reporting to participants and beneficiaries of financial and other information with respect thereto. DEFINITIONS
SEC. 3. (a) When used in this Act— (1) The term "employee welfare benefit plan" means any plan, fund, or program which is communicated to or its benefits described in writing to the employees, and which was heretofore or is hereafter established by an employer or by an employee organization, or by both, for the purpose of providing for its participants or their beneficiaries, through the purchase of insurance or otherwise, medical, surgical, or hospital care or benefits, or benefits in the event of sickness, accident, disability, death, or unemployment. (2) The term "employee pension benefit plan" means any plan, fund, or program which is communicated or its benefits described in writing to the employees, and which was heretofore or is hereafter established
August 28, 1958 [S. 2888]
Welfare and Pension P l a n s Dis> closu-e Act.
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