(A) The employer may (but is not required to) take reasonable steps to protect participants’ privacy concerning participation under the plan.
(B) However, the employer and the Plan Administrator and any agent and any service provider (and any other person acting for or at the request of any of them) may disclose information concerning the participant’s (or beneficiary’s) account:
(1) When requested by the attorney-in-fact who is currently acting under a power-of-attorney that was accepted by the Plan Administrator under § 35.037;
(2) When required by any court order or legal process;
(3) Without a court order or legal process when reasonably requested by the IRS or the SEC or the NASD;
(4) When reasonably requested by a public accountant engaged by the Plan Administrator or by an employer or by a plan-trustee or by an agent or by an issuer;
(5) When, in the course of any proceeding relating to divorce, separation or child support, an attorney-at-law states, in writing, that he or she represents the participant’s (or, after the participant’s death, the beneficiary’s) spouse or former spouse or child and that the information is reasonably related to such proceeding; and
(6) When, in the course of the administration of any estate or succession, the personal representative (or an attorney-at-law who represents the personal representative) states in writing that he, she or it needs the requested information for the purpose of preparing a return of any estate tax, transfer tax, gift tax, inheritance tax, death tax or similar tax, whether of the United States or any state or any foreign nation.
(C) If a person presents himself or herself as an attorney-at-law and states that he or she has authority to act for a person or entity, the Plan Administrator and the agent shall be entitled without inquiry to assume unless it has actual knowledge to the contrary, that the person so presenting himself or herself has the authority stated.
(Ord. NIRC 97-1, passed 1-15-1997)