The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) sets standards for private-sector employee benefit plans. 

Enacted in 1974, ERISA’s primary goal is to protect the interests of employees who participate in these plans by establishing rules and requirements for employers that offer retirement and welfare benefit plans.

Key aspects of ERISA include:

1. Reporting and Disclosure: ERISA mandates that plan sponsors provide participants with comprehensive information about the plan, including its features, funding, and any changes.
2. Fiduciary Responsibility: Plan fiduciaries, such as those managing the plan assets or making decisions regarding plan operations, are required to act in the best interests of the participants and beneficiaries. This includes prudently managing the plan and diversifying investments to minimize the risk of large losses.
3. Vesting and Funding Standards: ERISA sets rules for vesting (the right of an employee to receive accrued benefits) and funding standards for defined benefit pension plans to ensure that there are sufficient funds to pay promised benefits.
4. Claims and Appeals Procedures: The law establishes procedures for participants to follow when filing claims for benefits and appealing denials.
5. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC): ERISA created the PBGC, a federal agency that ensures certain pension benefits in case a pension plan becomes insolvent.

Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane & Conway has extensive experience representing plan participants and beneficiaries in claims where ERISA fiduciaries imprudently invested plan assets causing losses to the plan participants.