ERISA is an acronym for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. This is federal law passed in the 1970’s that provided for a number of protections for workers involving pension plans and benefits. ERISA governs many forms of retirement plans for employees of companies of all sizes. However, not every form of employee benefit program is covered by this law. Many lawyers work in a field called “plan administration” which deals with the specifics of how the law applies to particular benefit programs.
