Title 29 — LaborRelease 119-73not60
§1109 Liability for Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Title 29 › Chapter 18— EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY PROGRAM › Subchapter I— PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RIGHTS › Subtitle Subtitle B— Regulatory Provisions › Part 4— fiduciary responsibility › § 1109
Summary
Makes people who manage a plan personally pay the plan for any losses and return any profits they got from using plan assets. Courts can also order other fair remedies, including removing the manager or other penalties mentioned elsewhere. They are not liable for breaches that happened before they started or after they stopped managing the plan.
Full Legal Text
Title 29, §1109
Labor — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)Any person who is a fiduciary with respect to a plan who breaches any of the responsibilities, obligations, or duties imposed upon fiduciaries by this subchapter shall be personally liable to make good to such plan any losses to the plan resulting from each such breach, and to restore to such plan any profits of such fiduciary which have been made through use of assets of the plan by the fiduciary, and shall be subject to such other equitable or remedial relief as the court may deem appropriate, including removal of such fiduciary. A fiduciary may also be removed for a violation of section 1111 of this title.
(b)No fiduciary shall be liable with respect to a breach of fiduciary duty under this subchapter if such breach was committed before he became a fiduciary or after he ceased to be a fiduciary.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
29 U.S.C. § 1109
Title 29 — Labor
Last Updated
Apr 5, 2026
Release point: 119-73not60