News & Analysis as of

Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Financial Services Industry

Ballard Spahr LLP

Executive Order Seeks to Expand Access to Crypto and Private Investments in Defined-Contribution Plans

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On August 7, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order (the Order) instructing federal agencies to expand access to alternative asset investments for participants in defined-contribution retirement plans such as 401(k)...more

Polsinelli

DOL Rescinds 2022 Guidance Concerning Cryptocurrency Investments in 401(k) Plans

Polsinelli on

On May 28, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded its 2022 guidance that cautioned retirement plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” in permitting cryptocurrency and other digital asset investments in retirement...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Advisors aren’t sold on Bitcoin

On whether to recommend Bitcoin and other digital assets for clients, financial advisers are wary about their fiduciary duty to clients, according to a CoinShares survey....more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Missing Participants – New State Unclaimed Property Fund Option for Small Balances

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On January 14, 2025, the DOL issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2025-01, providing sponsors and administrators of ongoing defined contribution plans with a new option for missing participant balances of $1,000 or less:...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The DOL May Not Actually Want to Hear From You: New Guidance Streamlining the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program

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The DOL updated its voluntary fiduciary correction program (“VFCP”) which was introduced over 20 years ago to allow plan sponsors to corrected enumerated fiduciary breaches. The amended VFCP now allows for self-correction of...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Missing Participants – What to do With Abandoned Accounts

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Over the years, plan sponsors and administrators have wrestled with the question of what to do with the accounts of participants who left employment years earlier and cannot now be located. ...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

DOL Launches Lost and Found Database

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) launched the public Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database, an online tool designed to help former participants and beneficiaries find retirement...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Accelerated PBGC Premium Deadline for 2025 – Unless Congress Acts…

Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (“BBA 2015”), Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) premiums for plan years beginning in 2025 are due one month earlier than normal. For example, for calendar year plans,...more

K&L Gates LLP

QPAM Amendments Impact on CITs: What Banks and Their Advisers Need to Know

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Effective 17 June 2024, the US Department of Labor (DOL) adopted comprehensive amendments to Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 84-14, also known as the “QPAM exemption” (Exemption)....more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

The Department of Labor’s Expanded Cybersecurity Guidance: What ERISA Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries Need to Know

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On September 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2024-01, titled “Cybersecurity Guidance Update.” The updated guidance clarifies that the DOL cybersecurity guidance applies to...more

Carlton Fields

Sometimes, Pension De-Risking Makes Cents

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In a defined benefit plan, participants usually accrue a monthly benefit based on a formula that typically considers their last three years’ salary before retirement and years of service with their employer. For example, the...more

Carlton Fields

DOL Fiduciary Rule Saga Continues: 2024 Fiduciary Rule Halted by Texas District Courts

Carlton Fields on

The Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice v. Department of Labor case was the first case challenging the Department of Labor’s 2024 retirement security rule defining who is an investment advice fiduciary. It was...more

Hall Benefits Law

Major Differences Between DOL’s Proposed and Final ERISA Investment Advice Regulations

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The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) final regulations broaden the definition of fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to include more investment advisors. However, the eight hundred pages of...more

Carlton Fields

The DOL Fiduciary Rule Is Here – Are You an Investment Advice Fiduciary?

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The Department of Labor’s final definition of “investment advice” fiduciary regulation makes many more individuals fiduciaries under both the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code. Where for...more

Polsinelli

New Final Department of Labor Rules on Investment Advice are Immediately Challenged in Court

Polsinelli on

The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) recently issued final, new regulations (the “rules”) regarding who is considered an investment advice fiduciary that are slated to become generally effective on September 23, 2024, as well...more

K&L Gates LLP

QPAM Exemption Amendment—Key Takeaways and Action Steps for Advisors and Other Stakeholders

K&L Gates LLP on

Executive Summary - Many investment advisers and other financial institutions rely on the Department of Labor’s QPAM Exemption when providing services to, and transacting with, employer-sponsored retirement plans, individual...more

Carlton Fields

DOL Releases New Fiduciary Rule, Broadens Definition of Investment Advice Under ERISA

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On April 23, 2024, the Department of Labor published its long-awaited final retirement security rule broadening the definition of who is an “investment advice fiduciary” under section 3(21) of the Employee Retirement Income...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

Fiduciary Rule 4.0 Released

On April 23, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) published the “Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary,” which makes changes to the definition of “ fiduciary” for purposes of the Employee...more

A&O Shearman

DOL Issues Final Rule Amending QPAM Exemption

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On April 3, 2024, the Department of Labor (DOL) released its final rule amending Prohibited Transaction Exemption 84-14 (PTE 84-14). PTE 84-14 exempts from ERISA’s prohibited transaction rules certain transactions between...more

Williams Mullen

PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard

Williams Mullen on

On this episode of Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion, host Brydon DeWitt is joined by Ali Pino, a principal and retirement plan consultant with Spherient Advisors, who discusses the proposed Department of Labor rule...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

DOL Proposed Rule: New Definition of "Investment Advice Fiduciary"

Troutman Pepper Locke on

On October 31, the Department of Labor (DOL) released a proposed rule (the Proposed Rule) aiming to redefine and expand who qualifies as an “investment advice fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of...more

Carlton Fields

DOL Tries Once Again To Define What Constitutes Investment Advice Under ERISA

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On Friday, November 3, the Federal Register published the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) latest attempt to redefine who is an “investment advice fiduciary” under ERISA. In conjunction with the regulatory proposal, the...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

Texas Federal Judge: DOL ESG Investing Rule Does Not Violate ERISA

On September 21, 2023, a Texas federal court dismissed an action commenced by more than two dozen Republican state attorneys general challenging a 2022 Department of Labor (DOL) Rule that addressed consideration of ESG...more

Pullman & Comley - Labor, Employment and...

A New Way to Count Participants in Individual Account Retirement Plans

Employers who sponsor retirement plans for their employees face annual reporting requirements that may involve significant expenses. One of these is the requirement that a plan be audited annually by an independent qualified...more

Nossaman LLP

Federal Court Rejects States’ Challenge to DOL’s ESG Investing Rule

Nossaman LLP on

On September 21, 2023, a federal judge in Texas granted summary judgment in, and thus dismissed, a lawsuit filed by the Attorneys General of 25 states and other interested parties challenging a final rule issued by the U.S....more

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