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Fiduciary Duty Trump Administration Department of Labor (DOL)

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 In what’s becoming a routine political tug-of-war, the Trump administration (yes, back again) has rescinded the Biden-era Department of Labor (DOL) guidance cautioning plan sponsors against...more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

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

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

Kilpatrick

DOL Obtains Further Extension to Decide Whether to Fight for the Fiduciary Rule

Kilpatrick on

In a motion filed on April 14, 2025, the Department of Labor requested that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals grant it an additional 60-day delay to decide its next steps with respect to its appeals of two July 2024 decisions...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 & Emery

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

The Wagner Law Group

Election 2024: ERISA and the Proposed New Labor Secretary – Look(ing) for the Union Label?

The Wagner Law Group on

President-Elect Trump has proposed Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer as the next Secretary of Labor. The selection is particularly notable for the clear pro-union leanings of the nominee of a Republican president-elect. Any effort...more

K&L Gates LLP

Trump Era DOL Rules - Will They Remain Under a Biden Administration?

K&L Gates LLP on

The Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recently finalized a series of rules viewed as key Trump administration priorities. The rules include: Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2020-02,...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

To Vote or Not to Vote — That is the Question

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

Seyfarth Synopsis: On the heels of the Department of Labor’s June proposed regulation throwing cold water on plan fiduciaries’ selecting investments in the environment, social and governance (ESG) space, the agency has now...more

Groom Law Group, Chartered

New Regulation Best Interest FAQs Address Topics Familiar to DOL Fiduciary Rule Veterans

On January 10, 2020, the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) updated its frequently asked questions on Regulation Best Interest (the “FAQs”). ...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The need to avoid the old mistakes of Open MEPs

As we await the Department of Labor’s (DOL) final guidance pursuant to President Trump’s executive order on multiple employer plans (MEPs) and whether Congress tries to pass legislation, it’s important to think about some of...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

The Fiduciary Rule lives on

As referenced in the episode “The Foundation” from Seinfeld, Dr. McCoy did say at the end of Star Trek II after the death of Spock: “He’s really not dead, as long as remember him.” I feel the same way about the Department...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Fifth Circuit Vacates DOL Fiduciary Rule

In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule, including the expanded definition of “investment advice fiduciary” and the associated exemptions. The...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Fifth Circuit Strikes Down DOL Investment Advice Fiduciary Rules

Ballard Spahr LLP on

The Fifth Circuit on March 15 vacated U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regulations that redefined the circumstances in which a person who provides investment advice in connection with a retirement plan or individual retirement...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

2017 in Review: ERISA guidance and enforcement

In 2017, the principal focus in the administration of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), by the Department of Labor (DOL) appropriately remained one of the extraordinary developments...more

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

ERISA Fiduciary Rule Facing Precarious Future

Since its original release as a proposed rule in April 2015 and as a final rule a year later, the Department of Labor’s (DOL's) so-called fiduciary rule — which expands the “investment advice fiduciary” definition under the...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

DOL Again Delays Implementation of ERISA Fiduciary Rule

The department extends non-enforcement policy until July 1, 2019 and plans to propose a new streamlined class exemption under the Fiduciary rule. The DOL finalized its delay of certain portions of the Fiduciary rule until...more

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