Advisory Opinions

Requests for interpretations and other rulings under Title 1 of ERISA are handled by the Office of Regulations and Interpretations under the provisions established by ERISA Procedure 76-1. The office answers inquiries from individuals and organizations in the form of advisory opinions, which apply the law to a specific set of facts, or information letters, which merely call attention to well established principles or interpretations.

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**1995**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1995-05A 05/18/1995 3(1)	Mr. Paul A. Green Beins, Axelrod, Osborne, Mooney & Green, P.C. The Colorado Building Suite 700 1341 G Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005-3105	Whether the United Mine Workers of America - Bituminous Coal Operators' Association, Inc. Labor Management Positive Change Process Fund is an “employee welfare benefit plan” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(1).
1995-04A 05/03/1995 401(b)	Mr. Robert Stillman Associate Administrator for Investment Small Business Administration 409 3rd Street, S.W., Suite 6300 Washington, D.C. 20416	Concerning the application of the venture capital operating company exception of the "plan assets" regulation (29 C.F.R. 2510.3-101) to Small Business Investment Companies.
1995-03A 04/03/1995 3(1) 3(4) 3(40)	Ms. Térese M. Connerton Connerton, Ray & Simon 1920 L Street, N.W. Fourth Floor Washington, D.C. 20036-5004	Whether certain proposed changes to the American Federation of Government Employees Dental Trust Fund would cause the Fund to be considered an "employee welfare benefit plan" within the meaning of ERISA section 3(1), but not a "multiple employer welfare arrangement", as defined in ERISA section 3(40).
1995-02A 03/06/1995 3(33) 4(b)(2)	Ms. Melissa B. Rasman Dechert Price & Rhoads 4000 Bell Atlantic Tower 1717 Arch Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-2793	Whether the employee benefit arrangements of Jeanes Hospital, a medical care institution of the Religious Society of Friends, are “church plans” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(33) of and thus excluded from Title I coverage by ERISA section 4(b)(2).
1995-01A 02/13/1995 3(1)	Mr. Kenneth R. Hoffman Weinberg and Green 100 South Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201-2773	Whether The Pennsylvania Division, Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association Health Benefit Plan is an “employee welfare benefit plan” within the meaning of ERISA section 3(1).

**1994**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1994-42A 12/09/1994 407(d)(3) 407(d)(9)	Ms. Carol H. Jewett Vinson & Elkins 2300 First City Tower 1001 Fannin Houston, Texas 77002-6760	Whether certain plan amendments which Enron proposes to adopt in terminating the floor-offset arrangement over a period of five years would cause the arrangement to lose its status as a grandfathered floor-offset arrangement under section 9345(a)(3) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA 1987), and whether Title I of ERISA applies to such arrangements.
1994-41A 12/07/1994 514(a)	Mr. Thomas R. Giltner Cox & Smith Incorporated 112 East Pecan Street, Suite 2000 San Antonio, Texas 78205	Whether section 514(a) of Title I of ERISA preempts the application of the Texas Unclaimed Property Statutes (Tex. Prop. Code Ann. Title 6 (West 1985)), to unclaimed benefits of those participants in the Luby's Cafeterias, Inc. Employees Profit-Sharing and Retirement Trust (the Plan) who cannot be located.
1994-40A 12/07/1994 3(1)	Mr. D. J. Simonetti Berkowitz, Lefkowitz, Isom & Kushner 1600 Southtrust Tower 420 North 20th Street Birmingham, Alabama 35203-2678	Whether the Hourly Sick Leave Policy of Parisian, Inc. (the Policy) is an employee welfare benefit plan within the meaning of section 3(1) of Title I of ERISA or a payroll practice described in Department of Labor regulation section 29 C.F.R. 2510.3-1(b)(2).
1994-39A 11/28/1994 403(c )(1)	Mr. Henry M. Helgen III McGrann Shea Franzen Carnival Straughn & Lamb 2200 LaSalle Plaza 800 LaSalle Avenue Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402-2041	Whether a proposed distribution of plan assets to contributing employers upon the termination of a multiemployer plan would constitute a prohibited inurement of plan assets to employers under section 403(c)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).
1994-38A 11/28/1994 3(32)	Ms. Ruth L. Flemister Constangy, Brooks & Smith Suite 2400 230 Peachtree Street, N.W. Atlanta, Georgia 30303-1557	Whether the Southeast Alabama Gas District is an agency or instrumentality described in section 3(32), and whether five benefit programs offered by the Southeast Alabama Gas District to its employees are governmental plans within the meaning of section 3(32) of Title I of ERISA and, therefore, excluded from coverage under section 4(b)(1) of Title I of ERISA.