The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has officially launched its Retirement Savings Lost and Found database. Although the database is not complete, DOL will continue to make improvements over the next several months. DOL needs ongoing assistance and participation from plan administrators to get information on plan participants who have left their places of employment. While submission of this information by plan administrators is voluntary, DOL hopes to receive sufficient information to create the most effective database possible. Plan administrators can directly upload the requested information on the database website.

SECURE 2.0 requires DOL to create and maintain the database to help employees find retirement accounts that they left behind when they switched jobs. Retirement plans often end up with “missing participants” due to incomplete or inadequate recordkeeping, workers changing jobs, employers going out of business, or companies merging.

The legislation established a deadline of December 29, 2024, for establishing the database. The DOL began building an online search tool for this purpose in 2023 by seeking the voluntary assistance of plan administrators. In November 2024, DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued another notice to plan administrators, requesting any missing information to allow it to populate the database.

The notice details the specific information that EBSA is seeking from plan administrators. The requested information is necessary to populate the database and effectively provide information to the public. EBSA refined the type of data to be submitted and the mechanism for submitting it through public comments and coordination with stakeholders. Nonetheless, The ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) has objected to the notice, claiming that EBSA has requested excessive information outside SECURE 2.0’s requirements.

EBSA has already worked toward locating missing retirement plan participants by conducting extensive investigations. Since 2017, EBSA has recovered over $7 billion in retirement benefits owned by missing plan participants and beneficiaries.

DOL has announced that it intends to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in July 2025 concerning the database. The Notice will allow the agency to prescribe regulations concerning collecting the necessary information to populate the database and carry out the directives of SECURE 2.0.

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