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

Start Date

Select Reference

**2002**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
2002-12A 12/04/2002 PTE 92-5	Seymour Goldberg, Esq. Goldberg & Goldberg, PC One Huntington Quadrangle, Suite 3S09 Melville, New York 11747	Concerning the applicability of PTE 92-5, (57 FR 5019, February 11, 1992), to a transfer of a life insurance contract by a participant to his or her employee benefit plan.
2002-11A 10/17/2002 3(32)	Neil D. Lipton, Esq. Spivak, Lipton, Watanabe, Spivak & Moss 1700 Broadway, 21st Floor New York, New York 10019	Whether the Communications Workers of America, Local 1180 Members' Annuity Fund remains a "governmental plan" if it extends eligibility to its trustees, who are Local 1180 officers, and accepts contributions for any trustee whom Local 1180 employs, since the Fund otherwise exclusively covers government employees of NYC and related public employers whose bargaining agreements require them to provide all contributions currently received by the Fund.
2002-10A 09/30/2002 3(32)	Ian D. Lanoff, Esq. Groom Law Group 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20006-5893	Whether two UC pension plans adversely affect exclusion from Title I of ERISA as "governmental plans" by awarding service credits and transferring account balances connected with about two years when UC San Francisco Medical Center transferred a group of employees, now reemployed by the Medical Center and again participating in UC plans, to employment with the Medical Center's now-terminated, private sector joint venture with Stanford University and to coverage by the joint venture's private sector pension plans.
2002-09A 09/06/2002 3(32)	Michael T. Scaraggi, Esq. Oransky, Scaraggi, Borg & Abbamonte, P.C. 175 Fairfield Avenue, Suite 1A West Caldwell, New Jersey 07006	Application of the "governmental plan" definition in section 3(32) of ERISA to the Port Authority PBA Welfare Fund for purposes of the coverage exclusion in section 4(b)(1) of ERISA.
2002-08A 08/20/2002 404(a) 408(b)(2)	Michael A. Crabtree, Esq. Central Pension Fund of the International Union of Operating Engineers and Participating Employers 4115 Chesapeake Street, NW Washington, DC 20016-4665	Whether indemnification and limitation of liability provisions in a plan's service provider contract would violate the fiduciary provisions of ERISA.
2002-07A 07/25/2002 3(37)	Ronald E. Richman, Esq. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP 919 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022 Michael S. Melbinger, Esq. Winston & Strawn 35 West Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois 60601-9703	Application of the substantial business purpose test in paragraph (c) of 29 CFR 2510.3-37, for purposes of the definition of a "multiemployer plan" in ERISA Sec. 3(37).
2002-06A 07/03/2002 404(a)	J. Larry Savell, Chairman Richard Maples, Co-Chairman Iron Workers Mid-South Pension Fund Zenith Administrators 2450 Severn, Suite 517 Metairie, Louisiana 70001-1926	Application of Sec. 404(a)(1) of ERISA where trustees of a Taft-Hartley multiemployer plan, as the sole parties authorized under the trust agreement to establish delinquent contribution procedures, did so, but where different delinquent contribution procedures were subsequently agreed to in a collective bargaining agreement that the trustees were not party to.
2002-05A 06/07/2002 PTE 77-4	Melanie Franco Nussdorf, Esq. Steptoe & Johnson LLP 1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036-1795	Whether the prohibition in PTE 77-4 (42 FR 18732, April 8, 1977) on sales commission payments would apply to commissions paid by a plan to an independent broker who executes the plan’s purchase or sale of shares of open-end investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 through a securities exchange.
2002-04A 06/07/2002 408(e)	Wallace M. Starke, Esq. Troutman, Sanders, Mays & Valentine, L.L.P. P.O. Box 1122 Richmond, VA 23218-1122	Application of Sec. 408(e) of ERISA to certain transactions between a plan and various personal trusts and estates sharing a common trustee with the plan.
2002-03A 06/07/2002 206(d)	Alsee McDaniel, Director Division of Child Support Enforcement Department of Human Services 750 North State Street Jackson, MS 39202	Application of Sec. 206(d) of ERISA with respect to the Mississippi Department of Human Services, Division of Child Support Enforcement.