united-states employment
Employer refuses to release 401K
<p>My wife has been employed at a Fortune 50 company for 10 years and was laid off in March 2017.  When we asked about the 401K we were told that our address is not correct and the 401K plan manager refuses any contact with us.</p>

<p>They won't send correspondence, they won't send out an address correction form, they won't respond at all.  This has been going on about 6 months and we have about 225K in the 401K.  Can anything be done or do they just keep the money?</p>

<p>They can't simply keep the money; that's against the law.</p>

<p>But in a situation like this, it's easy to get lost in the bureaucracy. The company may be in violation of different laws, re: <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/temporary-postings/information-page" rel="noreferrer">For Your Information | United States Department of Labor</a>, so you can try pointing this out in another email or letter. The threat of the Feds or other enforcement agency looking into the matter may make something happen.</p>

<p>Or, try this: find the CEO (or a similarly high-ranked executive) on LinkedIn; many have open messaging in interest of good PR. Message/email them and carefully (and nicely) explain the situation. (A CEO will likely have an assistant monitoring their LinkedIn account. But, there are many stories of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos personally responding to emails.) Someone will make it happen and the employees who have not been helpful will be in hot water.</p>
