News & Analysis as of

Regulatory Reform Department of Labor (DOL) Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Cleaning Out the ERISA Attic: DOL Retires Obsolete Interpretive Bulletins

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) just did what many plan sponsors wish they could do, clear out old, confusing clutter that no longer serves a purpose....more

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

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On May 28, 2025, the Department of Labor (DOL) rescinded its 2022 guidance that cautioned retirement plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” in permitting cryptocurrency and other digital asset investments in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

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

U.S. Department of Labor Withdraws 2022 Crypto Guidance—What It Means for 401(k) Plan Fiduciaries

Crypto may be back on the table for 401(k) plans, but fiduciary duties remain as demanding as ever. On May 28, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration (DOL) issued Compliance Assistance...more

K&L Gates LLP

United States: Department of Labor ESG and Cryptocurrency-Related Matters

K&L Gates LLP on

The Department of Labor will engage in new rulemaking to replace Biden era regulations labeled “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights” that allowed plan fiduciaries may consider...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

Labor Department Shifts Positions on ESG Investments and Cryptocurrencies in 401(k) Plans

As anticipated, the Department of Labor (DOL) recently changed its position with respect to certain investment choices that 401(k) plan fiduciaries sometimes consider or make available to plan participants, including...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

Bricker Graydon LLP

Compliance Still Required During Non-Enforcement of 2024 Mental Health Parity Rule

Bricker Graydon LLP on

Last week, the Departments of Labor, Treasury, and Health and Human Services (the “Departments”)  issued a nonenforcement policy regarding the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA)  final regulations,...more

Woodruff Sawyer

​​​​​​Agencies Push Pause Button on Enforcement of MHPAEA 2024 Final Rule

Woodruff Sawyer on

On May 15, 2025, the Department of Labor, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Treasury Department (collectively, the “Agencies”) released a statement regarding the Agencies’ recent request for abeyance of a...more

Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Parity in Peril? Plan Sponsors Breathe Easier As Trump Administration Hits Pause on Enforcement of Mental Health Parity Final Rule

Seyfarth Shaw LLP on

On May 15, 2025 the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (the “Departments”) announced they will temporarily not enforce their new standards published under the mental health parity Final Rule last...more

Morgan Lewis - ML Benefits

US District Court Grants Freeze on Mental Health Parity Enforcement

The US Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury (together, the Departments) filed a motion to suspend the litigation proceedings in The ERISA Industry Committee vs. HHS et al. on May 9, 2025 while the...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Federal Regulators Announce Non-Enforcement of the 2024 Rule for Mental Health Parity

Epstein Becker & Green on

On May 9, 2025, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury (collectively, “the Departments”) asked the D.C. federal court to suspend litigation while they consider whether to rescind or modify the 2024...more

Jackson Walker

2025 Regulatory Review: Implications for Retirement Plans and Employer Actions

Jackson Walker on

The first few months of 2025 brought the potential for many changes. On January 20, 2025, one of the Executive Orders pulled back all proposed regulations that had been issued in the last 60 days, including proposed...more

Lathrop GPM

The “Deregulatory Initiative” Executive Order: Impact on Employee Benefit Plans

Lathrop GPM on

A February 19 Executive Order, titled “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative,” is aimed at directing the “Administration to focus the...more

Mintz

Biden Administration's DOL Rule Permitting ESG Investments Survives Legal Challenge

Mintz on

4 Last week, a federal district judge in the Northern District of Texas upheld a rule promulgated by the Biden Administration's Department of Labor enabling ESG-focused investing. Specifically, the court determined that the...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The New Fiduciary Rule (49): Recommendations to Transfer IRAs (NAIC)

The stay of the effective dates of the amended fiduciary regulation and amended exemptions means that the “old” DOL fiduciary regulation (the 5-part test) and the existing exemptions continue in effect indefinitely....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

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The New Fiduciary Rule (31):The DOL’s Final Fiduciary Definition Compared to the Proposal

On April 25, 2024, the Department of Labor published its final regulation on defining fiduciary status for investment advice, and the related exemptions, in the Federal Register. The exemptions provide relief from prohibited...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

The New Fiduciary Rule (29): The Final Rules Have Arrived

On April 25, 2024, the Department of Labor published its final regulation on fiduciary advice, and the related exemptions, in the Federal Register. The regulation defines fiduciary investment advice and the exemptions provide...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

BREAKING: DOL Expands Definition of Fiduciary under ERISA

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on

The U.S. Department of Labor issued final regulations on April 23, expanding the definition of “fiduciary” under ERISA. The final regulations alter the definition of “investment advice fiduciary” for purposes of Title I and...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Proposed Changes to PTE 2020-02 that Impact Broker-Dealers

The DOL has proposed amendments to its regulation defining fiduciary advice so that, in most cases, a single recommendation to a retirement investor will be a fiduciary act.  In addition, the DOL has proposed amendments to ...more

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