Employer gave temporary raise for 401k to save him 20k. is this legal?

My employer gave everyone a 17% raise for 3 months that goes into our 401k. basically "free money" because He owed 50k for fees or taxes doing it through employees he only has to pay 20k now. If we didn't participate he threatend no bonuses. We were not given any info on the investments or any kind of info about our 401k program. he called me and another girl in the office and we had to choose right then where to invest the money. I feel like I was forced into participating. It is through ADP Retirement Services. It started on Oct 13 and no money is showing in my online account yet. I feel like this whole thing is shady and I am going to be penalized on taxes or something in the long run. What should I do??

First of all he just gave you a gift,and second of all by doing this it may save him some taxes, however his tax situation is none of you g-- d--- business now is it.You ungrateful moron.

thank your employer for the contribution - he wasn't obligated to give you the $$$ - he just could have paid the taxes and left you out in the cold

WHY NOT?? Take advantage of the GIFT!

Suggestion, Open your own personnal
IRA with a company of your choice, now.
Contact the 401k plan administators get the paper work that is legally yours.
Look for and find a new job. Quit the old job and IMMEDIATLy Rollover the 401k to your IRA directly. Do not touch the money in transfer.
Thank your old boss. Cause what he has done has some legal gray areas. Time to move on up and out.

A couple of things really concern me here. First of all, you have received some really bad advice thus far. The first issue: You are not obligated to participate in your employer's 401k. It is a great idea, but you cannot be forced to participate with your funds. Secondly, the Department of Labor has very strict standards for how long your employer can take to get the funds that you elected to take from your paycheck and get them in to the 401k plan. The longest your employer can possibly wait is the 15th of the month following the month in which the funds are withheld from your pay. However, in all likelyhood the Department of Labor will expect the funds to hit your 401k much quicker. If your employer does not meet the DOL timing standards, they need to pay you for what is called "lost earnings". If you signed an agreement to participate in the plan, I don't think you will have a legal case. Besides, you can always un-enroll at any time. I cannot tell from your message however, if your employer actually gave you a raise and asked you to take money out of your check, or if he is giving you a profit sharing bonus into the 401k plan. if he is just giving you a bonus - not giving it to you first and asking you to put it in the plan, then there is nothing wrong with that and the timing standards do not apply since it is not your money, it is your employers money that is being deposited into the plan. Please let me know more details and I would be happy to give you a more thorough answer.