Employers in Illinois with at least 25 employees must comply with the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act (Secure Choice) or offer employees an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Secure Choice is set to roll out in November 2018.

Secure Choice applies to Illinois employers that do not sponsor a qualified retirement plan. The program, adopted in 2015, requires employers to automatically withhold five percent of an employee’s compensation (up to the annual maximum allowed for IRA contributions each year as provided by the IRS), unless the employee elects a different amount or opts out of the program entirely, and remit those contributions to the Secure Choice program.

Employers who do not comply with the Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program Act may face a penalty of $250 per employee for the first year and $500 per employee for each subsequent year.

For more information, see our legal update here.