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

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**1976**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1976-98 10/01/1976 403	Anonymous	Whether a union’s welfare and insurance fund may use the cash on hand when the employers discontinue contributing to the Fund to purchase dental benefits for members until such cash is depleted.
1976-97 10/01/1976 3(16) 412	Anonymous	Whether bonding is required for an employee welfare benefit plan with 100 or more participants, funded through insurance contracts where the employer’s sole role is to make premium payments, and whether it is necessary to file an annual report with the Department.
1976-96 09/30/1976	Anonymous	Whether the retirement policy for faculty and staff of a school is exempt from the funding requirements of Title I of ERISA pursuant to section 301(a)(3).
1976-95 09/30/1976 514	Anonymous	Whether section 409(b) is intended to exonerate successor fiduciaries from liability for the acts of their predecessors which occurred prior to the passage of ERISA.
1976-94 09/28/1976 3(2)	Anonymous	Whether an employee pension benefit program, assumed by a company under a net-lease agreement with its predecessor, is still a pension program under ERISA if, except for former employees of the predecessor company retiring during 1975, all benefits were frozen and vested.
1976-93 09/29/1976 103	Anonymous	Whether the Department is working on regulations which will establish procedures and standards for qualifying unlicensed accountants as qualified public accountants for purposes of ERISA. and whether certain suggested standards would be acceptable in our view.
1976-92 09/13/1976 412 414	Anonymous	Whether the owner of a general insurance agency who procures bonds through the agency is eligible for an exemption under the provisions of section 408 of ERISA.
1976-91 09/02/1976 3(14) 406 414	Anonymous	Whether certain actions involving the board of trustees of Taft-Hartley plans constitute prohibited transactions under ERISA: (1) retaining an attorney who is also counsel to the union whose members are participants in the plan; (2) paying the union a percentage of wages of union officials who engage in collection activities for the plan against delinquent contributing employers; and (3) leasing office space and then subleasing part of the space to the union.
1976-90 07/14/1976 514	Anonymous	Addresses the preemptive effect of ERISA on the (Named) Health Care Service Plan Act of 1976.
1976-89 08/31/1976	Anonymous	Addresses two matters raised in complaints filed on behalf of the Plaintiff concerning the applicability of the ERISA to pension fund contributions: whether (1) employees are entitled to credit for hours worked if the pension fund does not receive the contributions due it and (2) the Plaintiff, her principal or agents or other fiduciaries of the pension fund are immune and exempt from criminal and civil actions because of inability to comply with reporting and notice requirements.