employer messed up 401K contributions

[EliteZags]

so I just noticed this week that my 401K contributions from Jan-April were not getting deposited in my account even though deducted from each paycheck

it's about $7K of missing contributions, which given the timeline isn't really the worst situation, wish I would've noticed in early June but after today I'll take it if it can be 'resolved' quickly. I'm pretty much just faking outrage with the payroll/benefits team and demanding the funds get deposited asap, before the market bounces, obvs it could still go either way but I'll take todays level over Q1 and call it a win, anything else I should be considering given these circumstances?

[JAYSLOL]

That’s a nice win actually!  Hopefully they get it in right near the bottom of the market for you

[LightStache]

Lucky you! I can't think of any other issues besides getting those deposits in.

[MustacheAndaHalf]

Was your company's 401(k) team apologetic, and making this a priority?  If they are just treating it like anything else, maybe you could reach out to the Department of Labor to get this resolved.  Right now, your pay is gone and the money isn't in your 401(k) account.

"We can help answer questions on issues such as:
Lost or stolen pension or other retirement benefits"
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/ask-a-question/ask-ebsa

One other consideration: are you looking at account value or number of shares?  Because stocks have dropped this year.  You could be buying more shares, but seeing the overall account value drop.  If you look at actual number of shares, and that is unchanged for 8 months, it's stronger evidence no purchases have taken place.

[EliteZags]

deductions were made each paycheck, but contributions from each check were not being made until 4/21/22, they are saying due to some address format discrepancy that was corrected in April and they are working to deposit the missing contributions, hopefully quickly while market is still lowish

[Sibley]

There are IRS rules that cover this I believe. You should be getting some interest or something.

[Greenstache]

Their failure to timely deposit the amounts withheld is specifically something the DOL does not allow, and has provided a lot of guidance for the appropriate path to correction. (In no event may they deposit withholdings later than the 15th business day of the following month; rather, they must deposit them as soon as they can be reasonably segregated, which is usually within 2-3 business days.)

Speaking from many years of experience auditing benefit plans, they will need to evaluate whether this was an isolated error or impact other people as well, how soon the corrections can be made, and other factors prior to completely making you (and any other participants) whole.

If you're interested, much of the guidance they will need to follow can be found online - https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/401k-plan-fix-it-guide-you-havent-timely-deposited-employee-elective-deferrals is a good starting point. Usually they will need to work with the plan's auditors (assuming over 100 participants) and the recordkeeper / custodian to iron all of this out.

[EliteZags]

this has actually happened before and their only required correction was paying a negligible amount of interest on top of the missing contributions

[clarkfan1979]

so I just noticed this week that my 401K contributions from Jan-April were not getting deposited in my account even though deducted from each paycheck

it's about $7K of missing contributions, which given the timeline isn't really the worst situation, wish I would've noticed in early June but after today I'll take it if it can be 'resolved' quickly. I'm pretty much just faking outrage with the payroll/benefits team and demanding the funds get deposited asap, before the market bounces, obvs it could still go either way but I'll take todays level over Q1 and call it a win, anything else I should be considering given these circumstances?

This happened to me twice. One time it worked in my favor and the other time it worked against me. Horrible experience with HR. They really didn't know what they were doing or how to fix it.

[iluvzbeach]

this has actually happened before and their only required correction was paying a negligible amount of interest on top of the missing contributions

This does not sound like a mistake and it would make me question whether they were financially solvent, or playing games with the money. Based on the fact that it has happened before, I’d probably file a formal complaint with the appropriate regulatory agency.