Can an employer delegate its health plan fiduciary duties?
Last updated October 2, 2026
Employers can delegate many fiduciary functions — to committees, third-party administrators, or advisers — but they can never delegate away all responsibility. Selecting and monitoring the people you delegate to is itself a fiduciary duty that stays with the employer.
Delegation is one of the most effective fiduciary risk-management tools, and one of the most misunderstood. An employer can formally delegate plan administration to a committee, claims decisions to a TPA, and specialized functions to advisers. Done properly — in writing, following the plan document's procedures — delegation shifts day-to-day fiduciary responsibility to the delegate.
What remains is the duty to prudently select and monitor every delegate. That means a documented selection process, periodic performance and fee reviews, and acting on problems when they surface.
A fiduciary committee with a clear charter is the standard vehicle: the board or company formally appoints the committee, the charter defines its authority, and committee minutes evidence the monitoring that keeps the delegation defensible.
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