Chamber of Commerce: No to auto-retirement plans

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest employer advocacy group, has made it clear where it stands on President Obama’s proposal to create automatic retirement plans in every workplace: nice try, but no thanks. While the president’s proposal could increase participation in retirement plans, it would also create a number of problems for small businesses in the process, said Randy Johnson, vice president of labor and employee benefits at the Chamber of Commerce. “We’re all for increasing [retirement plan] coverage. But these are new requirements that would be imposed on employers, and we oppose them.” Mr. Johnson made his remarks Monday at the Arlington, Va.-based American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries’ 401(k) summit in San Diego. Specifically, Mr. Obama’s proposal would require companies that do not currently offer workers access to a retirement plan to automatically enroll their employees in direct-deposit individual retirement accounts. Mr. Johnson stated that this would primarily affect small businesses. At the moment, there are a number of other labor and benefits proposals coming out of Congress that are also targeting small businesses, he added, and the auto-IRA mandate might overburden small companies. “We’re looking at a number of mandates coming down the pike at once,” said Mr. Johnson. “Individually, this [auto-IRA proposal] might not seem like much, but you have to look at the totality.” Of the three million employers that the U.S. Chamber represents, roughly 96% are considered small businesses with fewer than 100 workers.