News & Analysis as of

Department of Labor (DOL) Retirement Plan Trump Administration

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

So, How Can Participants Invest Their Retirement Money?

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Under the current administration, the Department of Labor has once again changed course on its view of permissible investing strategies for retirement plans, warming to crypto and private equity, and confirming their distrust...more

Carlton Fields

Unsafe Harbor? Deregulation and the Limit of the Secure Act Safe Harbor for Selection of Lifetime Income Provider

Carlton Fields on

On January 31, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14192, titled“ Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation.” Its stated purpose was to encourage the reduction of private expenditure required to comply with federal...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

US Government Reopens Discussion of Private Pension Investments Expectations

Latham & Watkins LLP on

The Department of Labor has taken two recent actions that indicate where the approach to retirement investment policy may go under the new administration....more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

US Administration Announces Intent to Replace Biden-Era ESG Rule

The US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) position on the appropriateness of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing strategies in ERISA-regulated retirement plans has ping-ponged for decades (as we’ve covered...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Here we go again

Here’s the short version: the Department of Labor’s decision to reopen the Biden-era ESG rule is overdue—and welcome....more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Crypto in 401(k) Plans? Sure—But Let’s Not Lose Our Minds

Well, that didn’t take long. In what’s becoming a routine political tug-of-war, the Trump administration (yes, back again) has rescinded the Biden-era Department of Labor (DOL) guidance cautioning plan sponsors against...more

Mayer Brown

A Return to Investment Neutrality? DOL Rescinds Guidance Discouraging Plan Fiduciaries from Considering Cryptocurrencies

Mayer Brown on

On May 28, 2025, the US Department of Labor (the “Labor Department”) issued Compliance Assistance Release No. 2025-01 (the “2025 Release”), memorializing the Labor Department’s decision to rescind Compliance Release No....more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

Modernization of DC Plan Investments

There is a growing interest from the retirement industry and policymakers to modernize 401(k) and other defined contribution (“DC”) plan investments by incorporating alternative asset classes and lifetime income features. ...more

Troutman Pepper Locke

ESG Investing in 401(k) Plans – More Rule Changes on the Way

Troutman Pepper Locke on

In our recent client alert, “Texas Federal Court Allows an ERISA Fiduciary Challenge Against Alleged “ESG Investing” Without Any ESG Funds,” we reported that a Texas district court recently upheld Biden-administration...more

Ropes & Gray LLP

Trump DOL Withdraws Biden-Era ESG Rule and Crypto Guidance for ERISA Plans

Ropes & Gray LLP on

On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) began to articulate the Trump administration’s retirement policy priorities with its decisions to (i) end its defense of the Biden-era ESG rule in a long-running lawsuit...more

King & Spalding

U.S. Department of Labor Updates: Yes to Crypto and No to ESG?

King & Spalding on

On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) provided updated guidance on two employee benefit plan-related investment areas: (1) cryptocurrency and (2) environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) investing....more

Mintz

Trump Administration Will Replace the Biden Administration's Department of Labor Rule Permitting ESG Investing

Mintz on

3 Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Labor ("DOL") had issued a rule that permitted ESG factors to be considered when making investments on behalf of 401(k) plans. (This rule had replaced an earlier one from...more

Kilpatrick

Trump Admin. Rolls Back Biden-Era Rules on 401(k) Plan Investments: Crypto and ESG

Kilpatrick on

The Trump administration has rescinded (or signaled that it will replace) current guidance that was issued by the Biden administration’s DOL regarding (1) retirement plan investments in cryptocurrencies (and other digital...more

Kilpatrick

5 Key Takeaways | Plan Investments and Fiduciary Risk Mitigation in the Trump Era

Kilpatrick on

The landscape for retirement plan investments and fiduciary risks is shifting in the early part of the second Trump Administration, both due to changes in the administration’s policies and developments in the courts....more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

This Week From the Hill (May 4 – 10, 2025)

Each week while Congress is in session, our Policy team delivers a key update to highlight a topical benefits, health, or retirement news item from the Hill, such as a newly introduced bill, a summary of a committee hearing,...more

Carlton Fields

DOL ESG Rule Withstands Demolition of Chevron Deference

Carlton Fields on

In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council Inc., leaving the doctrine of Chevron deference in rubble. The doctrine stated that, when a...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

DOL changes? Maybe not so fast

With the change of Presidential administrations, there was certainly a discussion on what the Department of Labor (DOL) may do under President Trump regarding 401(k) plans. As far as regulations, an Executive Order may halt...more

Carlton Fields

President Issues Regulatory Freeze: Will the DOL Fiduciary Rule Saga Continue?

Carlton Fields on

The regulatory pendulum has been swinging toward deregulation since Donald Trump was inaugurated last month. On his first day in office, January 20, 2025, President Trump issued a presidential memorandum titled “Regulatory...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Trump Places DOL’s ESOP Proposals in Regulatory Moratorium

On January 16, 2025, the US Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released two pieces of guidance that, if finalized, would dramatically change the landscape for fiduciaries responsible...more

Kaufman & Canoles

ESOPs, Benefits & Compensation Client Alert - January 2025

Kaufman & Canoles on

On January 16, the Department of Labor released long-awaited guidance on how to determine the value of employer stock in purchase and sale transactions involving an ESOP. Unfortunately for those in the ESOP community hoping...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

ERISA changes under Trump? Your guess is as good as mine

As January 20th approaches, people in this business will question what a second Trump administration means for 401(k) plans. I don’t know because Donald Trump works outside the lines compared to other people in politics....more

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Expect Major Changes to Employment Benefits Under the Incoming Trump Administration

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC on

Although President-elect Trump provided few, if any, specific details surrounding his proposed changes to policies affecting employee benefits during his 2024 presidential campaign, employers and employees should expect a...more

McDermott Will & Schulte

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing for Retirement Plans: Where We’ve Been, and Where We Are Now

McDermott Will & Schulte on

Over the past year, the regulatory backdrop around environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing has shifted. As McDermott Partner Brian J. Tiemann explains in these slides, the US Department of Labor (DOL) under the...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Biden Directs DOL to Consider Rescinding Trump-Era Rule on Environmental, Social and Governance Investing

President Biden signed an executive order on May 20 on climate-related financial risk that seeks to change the rules regarding the use of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investments in retirement plans. The order...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Retirement Plan Provisions in the New COVID-19 Relief Acts

The recently enacted COVID-19 Related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, both of which are part of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” includes the following...more

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