With the CARES Act, Congress increased the ability of employees who have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic to access their 401(k) and other qualified retirement plan savings on an emergency basis. Plan sponsors have a choice whether to implement the new rules and, if the plan covers collectively bargained employees, the implementation will likely first need union consent.A plan sponsor that wishes to implement the relaxed CARES Act qualified plan distribution and participant loan rules may do so by adopting …