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.

Data Dictionary

1976
AO/ Date/ Reference Recipient Description of Request
09/02/1976

Anonymous

Whether the acquisition of common stock by the Stock-Bonus Plan for employees of a company from parties in interest would constitute a prohibited transaction under sections 406 and 407 of ERISA.

06/22/1976
514

Anonymous

Addresses the preemptive effect of ERISA on a state’s Prepaid Health Care Act.

05/25/1976
3(1)

Anonymous

Request for a review of the Department of Labor's determination that the [union] Benefit Fund is covered under Title I of ERISA.

05/25/1976
514

Anonymous

Whether the Association has been accepted as a plan sponsor under ERISA and whether it is required to file a plan description (EBS-1 Form) with the Department of Labor.

05/25/1976
3(2)

Anonymous

Whether voluntary gratuitous payments by an employer to former employees who separated from service are considered employee pension benefit plans under ERISA.

05/25/1976
3(2)

Anonymous

Whether ERISA will afford relief to an employee who entered into an agreement with his employer under which he would be paid a pension benefit upon reaching age 65 but is terminated prior to being vested in any portion of his retirement benefit.

05/21/1976
3(14)
3(21)
406

Anonymous

Whether a violation of section 406 of ERISA would occur in a hypothetical situation where a trustee of a pension trust, also a director of a national bank that performs the services of custodial agent for securities it purchases for the pension trust, directs the bank to purchase stock of the bank for the pension trust.

06/07/1976
404
407

Anonymous

Whether the ERISA imposes limits on the amount or percentage of plan assets that can be invested in certificates of deposit from the same banking institution or on the percentage of the total capitalization of that institution which could restrict the amount of interest-bearing accounts a fund can purchase.

06/24/1976
406
407

Anonymous

Addresses the applicability of prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA to a proposed transaction involving the sale or assignment of rights to receive debentures by the Common Stock Trust.

06/11/1976
412

Anonymous

Whether a bank that acts as a fiduciary is exempt from the bond requirements under ERISA.