Department of Labor ROBS Investigation

EBSA's public enforcement materials describe civil and criminal enforcement of ERISA, fiduciary violations, plan-asset misuse, service-provider conduct, reporting and voluntary compliance. They do not create a separate published ROBS lane. For a ROBS-funded company, EBSA relevance turns on whether there is an ERISA-covered plan and on the function being reviewed, not on a universal statement that every ROBS arrangement receives identical Title I treatment.^{[S1][S3][S4][S5]}

The owner-only boundary matters. The DOL regulation states that a plan without employees is not an employee benefit plan for Title I purposes and that an individual and spouse are not employees with respect to a wholly owned trade or business for that rule. Once common-law employees participate or have rights under a covered plan, participant protections, disclosures, claims and fiduciary administration can become central.^[S4][S5]

Officially supported ways an EBSA matter can arise include participant or adviser complaints and inquiries, Form 5500 and data review, enforcement projects, referrals, service-provider conduct, plan-asset leads and other enforcement information. A complaint or data mismatch is a lead, not proof of a violation or a prediction of enforcement outcome.^{[S1][S2][S16]}

A Benefits Advisor inquiry can ask questions or help a participant without being a civil investigation. An informal EBSA contact is different from a civil investigation, a subpoena or enforcement action. A criminal referral is separate from civil restoration. IRS Employee Plans exams address qualification and tax administration; PBGC issues depend on plan type; a private lawsuit uses court procedures rather than EBSA's investigation channel.^{[S1][S2][S11][S18]}

At first contact, record the investigator's name, title, office, phone, email, matter description, plan name, sponsor, plan number, years, requested records and deadline. Ask for credentials and written request scope. ERISA section 504 authorizes investigations, records review, subpoenas and testimony, but that authority does not mean every contact uses a subpoena or site visit.^[S11]

Separate voluntary document requests from subpoenas. Calendar deadlines, request extensions before due dates, preserve documents, and route privilege or work-product questions to ERISA counsel before narratives, interview outlines or legal analyses are produced. Representation authority should be confirmed in writing for the plan, sponsor, fiduciary or individual being represented.^[S1][S11]

An EBSA file may require plan and trust documents, amendments, fiduciary appointments, committee minutes, participant census, eligibility, notices, claims, stock purchase documents, share ledger, valuation support, bank and custody records, payroll, contributions, corporate and related-party transactions, service-provider contracts, fee disclosures, Form 5500 support, participant communications and correction records. Do not treat this as a universal checklist demanded in every investigation.^{[S1][S3][S6][S7][S8][S9][S16][S17]}

ERISA fiduciary status is functional. A person may be a fiduciary to the extent the person exercises discretionary authority over plan management, plan administration or plan assets, but business settlor choices and corporate operations are not the same as fiduciary acts. The investigation file should separate who acted, in what capacity, under which document, and with which information.^[S3][S6]

Employer securities require careful boundaries. ERISA section 404 includes exclusive-purpose, prudence, diversification and plan-document duties; sections 407 and 408 create eligible-individual-account-plan and qualifying-employer-security lanes, including acquisition or sale exemptions where conditions such as adequate consideration and no commission are met. Private stock has no public market price, so ERISA section 3(18)(B) and DOL Advisory Opinion 1976-16 tie adequate consideration to fair market value determined in good faith by the trustee or named fiduciary, using recognized closely held stock valuation methods rather than a formula promise.^{[S3][S6][S8][S9][S12][S13]}

Prohibited transactions under ERISA involve parties in interest and plan assets. IRS section 4975 excise tax is a related but separate tax-code lane, so do not collapse EBSA civil remedies into IRS excise-tax correction. Bonding protects the plan against fraud or dishonesty by persons handling funds; Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2008-04 says fiduciary liability insurance is different, is not required by section 412 and does not satisfy the fidelity-bond requirement.^{[S7][S10][S17][S18]}

Employee eligibility and nondiscrimination questions can overlap factually with EBSA participant rights, but tax-code coverage and nondiscrimination testing remain distinct from ERISA fiduciary process, disclosure and claims rights.^{[S2][S4][S5][S18]}

Potential EBSA outcomes include no-action closure, voluntary correction or restoration, civil action, referral or coordination for prohibited-transaction excise tax, fiduciary removal or bar where supported, and criminal referral where facts support criminal enforcement. Civil penalties should be tied to the exact authority in the agency communication rather than assumed.^{[S1][S10][S11]}

VFCP covers specified transactions and uses official correction procedures, including an online calculator. The 2025 VFCP update and PTE 2002-51 amendments are effective March 17, 2025. The self-correction component covers delinquent participant contributions and loan repayments to pension plans only if the conditions are met, including $1,000 or less in lost earnings, remittance within 180 calendar days, use of the online calculator, payment of penalties and charges outside the plan, an SCC notice, and no plan or self-corrector being under investigation. DFVCP addresses late Form 5500 filings. IRS EPCRS or Audit CAP may need coordination, but one program does not automatically resolve another agency's issue.^{[S14][S15][S16][S18]}

Days 1 to 2: verify contact, preserve the letter, envelope, email headers, voicemail notes and requested records, then issue a document hold covering plan, payroll, bank, valuation, corporate, email and provider files. Days 2 to 4: identify counsel, TPA, valuation professional, payroll provider, insurer, CPA and corporate counsel; confirm representation authority and privilege controls. Days 4 to 7: build a request log, deadline calendar, fact chronology and record reconciliation map. Days 7 to 10: request clarification or extension if needed, prepare a production index, and avoid backdating, deleting, coaching witnesses, rewriting history or obstructing the inquiry.^{[S1][S11][S14][S17]}

These examples show arithmetic and record controls only. They do not predict enforcement, approve correction, value stock or provide legal advice.

Before signing tolling, settlement, restoration, correction or admissions documents, ask which plan, fiduciary, sponsor, participant, year, transaction and authority are covered; which rights are preserved; whether IRS, PBGC, insurer or private-claim consequences remain; who has authority to sign; whether the facts are admitted or only correction terms are agreed; and whether counsel has reviewed privilege, work product and collateral consequences.^{[S1][S10][S11][S14][S18]}

Keep this page distinct from what triggers a ROBS audit, IRS ROBS audit process, ROBS fiduciary responsibilities, ROBS prohibited transactions, adequate consideration, Form 5500 penalties and IRS EPCRS and ROBS plans. Official resources include Ask EBSA, VFCP and DFVCP.^{[S2][S14][S16]}

These answers keep EBSA, IRS and private-claim lanes separate.

Research ledger: docs/research/department-of-labor-robs-investigation-research-ledger.json. Sources were checked Aug. 11, 2026.

1. S1. U.S. Department of Labor: EBSA EnforcementUsed for EBSA civil investigations, fiduciary enforcement, service-provider conduct, referrals, criminal investigations and voluntary compliance. Limit: Official overview; it does not publish a separate ROBS investigation track or selection formula.
2. S2. U.S. Department of Labor: Contact EBSAUsed for participant and adviser inquiries, Benefits Advisors and complaint channels. Limit: Assistance channel, not proof that an investigation exists.
3. S3. Office of the Law Revision Counsel: ERISA section 3, 29 U.S.C. 1002Used for fiduciary, participant, party in interest, adequate consideration, employer security and individual account plan definitions. Limit: Definitions require plan-specific application.
4. S4. Office of the Law Revision Counsel: ERISA section 4, 29 U.S.C. 1003Used for Title I coverage boundary for employee benefit plans and statutory exclusions. Limit: Coverage depends on participants, plan type and facts.
5. S5. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations: 29 CFR 2510.3-3Used for owner-only and partner-only plan boundary for Title I employee benefit plan status. Limit: Does not decide tax qualification or all state-law consequences.
6. S6. Office of the Law Revision Counsel: ERISA section 404, 29 U.S.C. 1104Used for exclusive purpose, prudence, diversification and plan-document duties. Limit: Fiduciary status and breach are fact-specific.
7. S7. Office of the Law Revision Counsel: ERISA section 406, 29 U.S.C. 1106Used for party-in-interest prohibited-transaction boundaries. Limit: Exemptions and remedies must be analyzed separately.
8. S8. Office of the Law Revision Counsel: ERISA section 407, 29 U.S.C. 1107Used for employer-security and eligible individual account plan rules. Limit: Plan document and security facts control.
9. S9. Office of the Law Revision Counsel: ERISA section 408, 29 U.S.C. 1108Used for statutory exemptions, service arrangements and employer-security acquisition or sale conditions. Limit: Exemptions do not erase prudence or loyalty duties.
10. S10. Office of the Law Revision Counsel: ERISA sections 409 and 502, 29 U.S.C. 1109 and 1132Used for fiduciary liability, restoration, removal and civil enforcement concepts. Limit: Civil remedies depend on pleaded facts and authority.
11. S11. Office of the Law Revision Counsel: ERISA section 504, 29 U.S.C. 1134Used for investigative authority, records, subpoenas and testimony. Limit: Does not require every matter to use every tool.
12. S12. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations: 29 CFR 2550.408eUsed for employer-security acquisition or sale exemption and adequate consideration boundary. Limit: No valuation formula for private stock.
13. S13. U.S. Department of Labor EBSA: Advisory Opinion 1976-16Used for DOL guidance that closely held employer-stock adequate consideration requires good-faith fair-market-value determination by the trustee or named fiduciary using recognized valuation methods. Limit: Advisory opinion guidance; no advance determination for a specific transaction.
14. S14. U.S. Department of Labor EBSA: Voluntary Fiduciary Correction ProgramUsed for VFCP scope, covered transactions, application limits and online calculator. Limit: Eligibility is transaction-specific and no promise applies after agency contact.
15. S15. U.S. Department of Labor EBSA: Fact Sheet: Voluntary Fiduciary Correction ProgramUsed for 2025 VFCP self-correction component, March 17 2025 effective date, covered transactions, lost-earnings, 180-day remittance, notice and under-investigation limits. Limit: Only specified SCC transactions; email acknowledgment is not a no-action letter.
16. S16. U.S. Department of Labor EBSA: Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance ProgramUsed for DFVCP boundary for late Form 5500 filings. Limit: Filing penalty relief lane, not fiduciary or tax correction.
17. S17. U.S. Department of Labor EBSA: Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2008-04Used for ERISA fidelity bonding requirements, bond amounts for plans holding employer securities and distinction from fiduciary liability insurance. Limit: Guidance is about bonding, not fiduciary-breach liability outcomes.
18. S18. Internal Revenue Service: IRS ROBS Compliance ProjectUsed for cross-agency distinction from IRS qualification, tax, Form 5500, valuation and prohibited-transaction concerns. Limit: IRS project page, not EBSA procedure.