Archive for the ‘EBSA’ Category

The Department of Labor (DOL) today issued a final rule expanding the definition of employer under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to enable the formation of Association Health Plans (AHPs) that can span cities, counties and states. Phase-in begins on Sept. 1, 2018. The final rule states: This document contains a final regulation […]

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has issued a field bulletin that — once again — reverses a position of the Obama administration, this time stating that fiduciaries of employee benefit plans may not sacrifice returns or assume greater risks to promote collateral environmental, social or corporate governance (ESG) policy goals when making investment decisions. […]

The Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) in 2017 upped its recovery of missing employee retirement contributions (including fines) to $1.1 billion from $777.5 the year before. At the same time, due in great part to automation, the ERISA-enforcement wing of the Department of Labor (DOL) was able to reach the  higher recovery figure on fewer […]

Over the past 12 months, the Department of Labor (DOL) has lost 4.7 percent of its workforce to attrition and retirements, according to data released by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), as detailed by Bloomberg News. The DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has been hit even harder, with a 9 percent reduction in […]

The Department of Labor (DOL) has filed an information request with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) titled “On the Road to Retirement Surveys” to “gather data about how people make planning and financial decisions before and during retirement, especially with regard to the information that they receive and how they respond to it.” The […]

On Friday, March 10, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance on enforcement of its Fiduciary Rule, which was set to be implemented on April 10 but for which the agency has proposed a 60-day delay. In its guidance, the department says it basically won’t enforce the rule from April 10 through the proposed 60-day delay […]

The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced a proposed extension of the applicability dates of the fiduciary rule and related exemptions, including the Best Interest Contract Exemption, from April 10 to June 9, 2017. The announcement follows a presidential memorandum issued on Feb. 3, 2017, which directed the department to examine the fiduciary rule to […]

Saying that increasing access to retirement savings opportunities is the surest way to help more of America’s workers secure their financial futures, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has announced a final rule to assist large cities and other political subdivisions that establish payroll deduction individual retirement account savings programs for workers who do not have access […]

The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has made public a final rule that assists states in creating IRA programs for workers who do not have access to workplace savings arrangements. At the same time, in response to public comments, the department is making public a proposed rule that could facilitate a limited number of cities and other local […]

The Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council, is meeting at the Department of Labor’s headquarters today through Thursday, to hear testimony from invited witnesses and to receive an update from the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). The council has scheduled the EBSA update tentatively for the […]