28 May 2024
The Back-and-Forth of the ERISA Fiduciary Rule
In late April, the U.S. Department of Labor released its new fiduciary investment advice definition in a package titled the ''Retirement Security Rule'' (the 2024 Package). The 2024 Package is made up of four different components and represents a continuation of DOL's efforts to expand the types of interactions between retirement savers and financial professionals that are subject to ERISA's embrace. In 2016, DOL had issued a regulatory package with similar aims that was vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Subject to delaying legal challenges, the 2024 Package is scheduled to take effect September 23, 2024.
Related Content
- ERISA Fiduciary Duties
Learn more about the 2024 Package. In summary, it includes an amendment to PTE 2020-02 that (1) expands the PTE’s scope to include recommendations of any investment product, regardless of whether the product is sold on a principal or agency basis; (2) revises the disclosure requirements for more consistency with other investment adviser regulations; (3) provides streamlined exemption provisions for financial institutions that give fiduciary advice in connection with an ERISA Section 3(38) investment manager request-for-proposal; and (4) provides that an investment advice fiduciary could lose the ability to rely on the exemption for 10 years upon the occurrence of certain criminal convictions, misleading the DOL in its exemption oversight, or intentionally or systematically violating the exemption’s conditions.
- Prohibited Transaction and Disqualified Persons Checklist (IRC Rules)
Reference this checklist and see how DOL’s new rules revise the 1975 five-part test for determining when a person renders investment advice, conferring fiduciary status, after a previous attempt to do so was rescinded after a successful legal challenge.
Practical Guidance Updates
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- Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Key Legal Developments Tracker (Current)
Stay informed on new developments.- Health and Welfare Plans. IRS announces cost-of-living adjustments to the applicable dollar limits for health savings accounts (HSAs), high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), and excepted benefit health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) for 2025. Proc. 2024-25.
- Health and Welfare Plans. DOL's EBSA division issues a final rule that rescinds ''association health plans, '' noting the expanded definition of ''employer'' under the prior final rule marked a substantial departure from the DOL's longstanding pre-rule guidance on ERISA's definition of "employer." 89 Fed. Reg. 34106 (Apr. 30, 2024); EBSA Fact Sheet.
- Health and Welfare Plans. HHS issues final regulations addressing section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs and activities. HHS is also revising its interpretation regarding whether Medicare Part B constitutes federal financial assistance for purposes of civil rights enforcement. 89 Fed. Reg. 37522 (May 6, 2024); HHS, Section 1557 Final Rule: FAQs
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