The United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit) recently upheld California’s CalSavers Retirement Savings Program (CalSavers), which provides retirement savings accounts to employees without employer retirement benefit plans. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association sued to challenge the law establishing the CalSavers program arguing that it was superseded by federal retirement law, specifically the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). However, the U.S. Appeals court upheld the CalSavers program holding that it was not preempted by ERISA.

The CalSavers Retirement Savings Program (CalSavers) was established to assist the estimated 7.5 million California employees without employer retirement savings plans. Mandatory compliance is phased-in over time and depends on the size of the employer. The current phase requires all California employers with 51 to 100 employees to register with CalSavers or certify that they are exempt by June 30, 2021. More specifically, employers without employer-sponsored retirement plans must register to begin offering the state-mandated employer retirement plan to their employees ...

By September 30, 2020, all California companies with more than 100 employees must register with the CalSavers Retirement Savings Program (CalSavers) or certify that they are exempt.

Employers without employer retirement plans must register to begin offering the state-mandated employer retirement plan to their employees.  Those employers offering retirement plans to their employees need only certify as exempt.  

The link to the CalSaver website to register or certify as exempt is here.

Smaller employers have phased-in deadlines to register or certify as exempt. Employers with ...