When the plan sponsor amends a governmental master plan, will each participating employer be required to execute a new adoption agreement? If no, does the sponsor's amendment of the plan automatically apply to each employer? I assume that if the answer is yes, and the employer does not accept the amendment, it (the employer) would be deemed to have amended the plan and thus be an indivudually-designed plan.

A lot depends on the language of the original adoption agreement. In many instances, plan sponsors will set up master plans to say that the plan sponsor has the right to amend the plan, unless the employer objects within some period of time stated in the document. If so, no new adoption agreement should be required. Otherwise, a new adoption agreement would be the safest course, although it might be possible in some instances to argue that an employer had impliedly consented to an amendment it did not formally adopt.

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