EBSA assists participants in
understanding their rights, responsibilities, and benefits under
employee benefit law and intervenes informally on their behalf with
the plan sponsor in order to assist them in obtaining the health
and retirement benefits to which they may have been inappropriately
denied, which can avert the necessity for a formal investigation or
a civil action. EBSA has made a request for assistance form
available on its Web site for those wishing to obtain assistance in
this manner.
The burden estimates are lower
than during the last submission. In the case of the hour burden,
the Department made projections on the use of the new form that
turned out to be too high. Actual usage was lower than projected,
and has been adjusted accordingly for this submission. Further, the
Department expected to receive 15 percent of its inquiries through
the mail and calculated the cost burden accordingly. In actuality,
none of its inquiries were received through the mail, and the
Department sees no reason why this will change in the future. The
cost to the government has decreased because the costs included in
the last submission reflected one-time start-up costs that are no
longer applicable for this renewal.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.