Periodically some studios will elect to have an Auto-Enrolment event. These events are limited in nature and do not occur every year.
When an event is about to occur, employees at the participating studio are selected based on full-time employment status with the 90-day employment requirement already established at the studio location. All affected employees are sent legally required communications by mail and email announcing the event and are given the option to decline participation in the event.
Overview of past Auto-Enrollment Events:
Certain eligible members who were regular full-time employees of at the participating studio on October 1 of the year before the event occurred were selected to be automatically enrolled into The Animation Guild’s 401(k) plan on the first pay date after January 1 of the following year. Those chosen to be enrolled were sent two notices in the mail from Vanguard about the upcoming auto-enrollment into The Animation Guild 401(k) Plan. Here are samples of these letters:
If the member who received this letter did nothing, beginning in January they were automatically enrolled in The Animation Guild 401(k) Plan with a default deferral rate of 6% of their salary. Their default investment choice was the Vanguard Target date fund that corresponds to their anticipated retirement date, using birth dates and a retirement age of 65.
They could also choose to enroll ahead of the Auto-Enrollment data set by contacting the TAG office before the middle of December.
If a chosen employee chooses not to participate in the Auto-Enrolment event, they may “opt out” from being automatically enrolled by completing and returning an opt-out form by mid-December.
If they miss the chance to “opt-out” of Auto-Enrollment, they can still stop contributions and withdraw from participation in the 401(k) within a legally allowed “grace period” of 3 months from the Auto-Enrollment date.
Past Auto-Enrollment Events
Disney
01/01/2024
This event included eligible members who were regular full-time employees of Walt Disney Pictures (Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney TV Animation, or Studio Operations), The Secret Lab (Walt Disney Animation Studio), or Marvel Film Production LLC (Marvel Studios Animation) on October 1, 2023, and were still working at those locations on January 1, 2024.
Disney
01/01/2022
This event included eligible members who were regular full-time employees of Walt Disney Pictures (Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney TV Animation, or Studio Operations), The Secret Lab (Walt Disney Animation Studio), or Marvel Film Production LLC (Marvel Studios Animation) on October 1, 2021, and were still working at those locations on January 1, 2022.
Warner Bros.: 01/01/2020
This event included included eligible members who were regular full-time employees of Warner Bros. Animation studio on October 1st, 2019, and were still working at that location on January 1, 2020
Disney: 01/01/2019
This event included included eligible members who were regular full-time employees of Walt Disney Pictures (Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney TV Animation, or Studio Operations), The Secret Lab (Walt Disney Animation Studio), on October 1, 2018, and were still working at those locations on January 1, 2019.