Employee benefit questions you didn’t want to ask (but should): What is a “summary plan description?”

Managing the complexities of employee benefit plans can raise questions you might hesitate to ask—whether they feel too basic or you’re unsure where to begin. In this series, “Employee benefit questions you didn’t want to ask (but should),” we tackle some of the most common questions about employee benefits to help you navigate the details with confidence. Whether it’s understanding plan documents, clarifying key terms or addressing compliance issues, we’re here to provide the answers you need.

Q: I asked my service provider for my plan document and they gave me something called a “summary plan description.” Is this my plan document?

A: No, that summary plan description is not your plan document. This happens a lot; go back to your service provider and tell them you want your plan document, not your SPD (what most HR people call the summary plan description). It may help to ask them for your adoption agreement and the matching basic plan document.

An SPD is a summary of the plan document. It’s supposed to be an easy to understand explanation of your retirement plan for your employees. Usually, an SPD is 10 to 30 pages long, which is a lot shorter than the 100 plus pages of most plan documents. Since you should have a copy of this document now, store it somewhere safe for your records.