With paid sick leave plans being mandated by local and state governments across the country on the heels of local minimum wage hikes and predictive scheduling mandates gaining in popularity, could retirement plans be the next mandate foisted upon private business? California became the third state in the nation to create a pilot program for employee retirement savings with the launch of CalSavers a few weeks back. Oregon and Illinois have each launched their own pilots in each of the past two years using the same private firm. The CalSavers program allows employers to ‘voluntarily’ register with the state to offer the retirement program and beginning July 1, any employer without a retirement plan may register. The kicker though is that by June 2022, all private employers with 5 or more workers that do not offer a qualified retirement plan must register with CalSavers! The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association filed suit challenging the program back in the summer and that lawsuit is still pending in federal court in Sacramento. If these programs, mandatory though they may be, pass judicial muster, we can likely expect to see more retirement mandates proposed around the country in short order! The Oregon program, which required employers with 50 to 99 workers to register in May and those with 100 or more workers to do so last November has seen enrollment significantly less that was projected in a 2016 feasibility study.