Employee Retirement Income Security Act investment & finance definition

A federal law, passed in 1974, that regulates private pension plans. The law set up the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which created guidelines for managing pensions, and made qualifying for a pension easier for individuals. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. is a quasi-federal agency that protects the retirement income of over 44 million U.S. workers in more than 35,000 defined benefit pension plans if the companies operating the plan go bankrupt.