On November 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (the “DOL”) released final regulations (the “Final Rules”) that are intended to be more supportive of ERISA fiduciaries considering environmental, social, and governance factors (“ESG”) in investment decisions as compared to the Trump administration’s 2020 regulations (the “2020 Regulations”). The Final Rules
Multiemployer Funds
42 Years in the Making: PBGC Proposes Regulation on Interest Rate for Withdrawal Liability Calculations
By Justin Alex, Robert Projansky & Jesse T. Foley on
A hotly debated (and litigated) issue for multiemployer pension plans in recent years has been the appropriate interest rate to determine a multiemployer pension plan’s liabilities when calculating the plan’s underfunding for withdrawal liability purposes. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) is now poised to end the debate. The PBGC proposes to allow multiemployer…
Fifth Circuit Rules that DOL Advisory Opinion Is Subject to Judicial Review and Invalidates DOL Advisory Opinion on Health Insurance
By Myron Rumeld, Tulio Chirinos & Jay Jensen on
On August 17, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a Department of Labor (“DOL”) advisory opinion, which found that an insurance plan was not governed by ERISA, was unenforceable under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). In doing so, the court ruled that the DOL advisory opinion constituted a “final…
DOL Proposes Significant Changes to the QPAM Exemption – What You Need to Know
On July 27, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued notice of a proposed amendment (the “Proposed Amendment”) to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 (which is commonly referred to as the “QPAM Exemption”) that would (as described in more detail below) significantly amend certain of the exemption’s conditions, including:
- increasing the equity/net worth
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