My question has to do with rules or laws regulating how employers contribute to your 401K after the money has been deducted from your paycheck. My employer has taken 3 deductions from my paycheck over the course of 1.5 months. None of these deductions have been reflected as a contribution to my 401K account online. The 401K representative for our company said that as soon as the contribution is made to the account it should show in the account history online. When I asked my employer about the discrepancy after the first contribution was not reflected in the online account, he said that the contribution would be made once per month rather than twice monthly (we are paid twice monthly). So I have two questions. 1. Can an employer hold a deduction from your pay check to deposit into a 401K account at a later date or is he compelled to deposit with each pay check? 2. Is an employer compelled legally to make a percentage contribution to a 401K if that percentage match is not in writing but rather a verbal agreement? Thanks for the feedback. elschulz

It is perfectly legal to make the contributions monthly as long as everyone is treated the same. When the employer transfers the money to the plan administrator should be listed in the plan document, however.

A verbal agreement ican be bindin but is generally as good as the paper its printed on. But in this case, the matching contribution formula has to be listed in the plan documents.