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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**1981**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1981-11A 01/16/1981 401(b)	Mr. Michael F. Klein, Jr. Price Waterhouse & Co. 153 East 53rd Street New York, New York 10022	Whether the insurance policies would not be assets of the proposed plan.
1981-10A 01/14/1981 3(2)	Ms. Virginia M. Johnson Assistant Secretary-Personnel Director Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Co. BOX 30060 Lansing, Michigan 48909	Whether the Living Income Benefit (the Program) of Michigan Millers Mutual Insurance Co. (the Employer) must comply with the reporting and disclosure requirements of title I of ERISA.
1981-09A 01/14/1981 3(1) 3(5)	John Van Wijk, Esq. The Great Western Sugar Company Post Office Box 5308 Denver, Colorado 80217	Whether a group insurance plan covering domestic sugar beet workers employed by beet growers contracting with The Great Western Sugar Company (G.W.S.) and paid for by G.W.S. is covered by ERISA as an employee benefit plan.
1981-08A 01/12/1981 3(2)	Mr. David M. Monroe Vice President-Finance Secretary and Treasurer Upper Peninsula Power Company 616 Shelden Avenue Houghton, Michigan 49931	You request an opinion that the Special Severance Pay Plan of Upper Peninsula Power Company (the Program) is a severance pay plan as defined in Department of Labor regulation 29 C.F.R. §2510.3-2(b).
1981-07A 01/12/1981 3(1) 406	Mr. Dean A. Mixon Weinfeld & Mixon Suite 203 601 North Parkcenter Drive Santa Ana, California 92705	Whether the Consolidated Labor Union Trust (the Trust) is an employee welfare benefit plan within the meaning of section 3(1) of ERISA, and whether an employee welfare benefit plan within the definition of section 3(1) can be maintained by more than one local.
1981-06A 01/05/1981 3(1) 3(4) 3(5) 412	Mr. Thomas W. Stram Kerr, Russell and Weber 2100 Detroit Bank & Trust Building Detroit, Michigan 48226	Whether group insurance plans offered by the Michigan Dental Association (MDA) constitute employee welfare benefit plans within the meaning of ERISA section 3(1) and, if covered, the extent to which ERISA requirements concerning bonding and reporting are applicable to MDA or its Board of Trustees.
1981-05A 01/02/1981 407(d)(5)	David E. Gordon, Esquire O’Melveny & Myers 611 West Sixth Street Los Angeles, California 90013	Whether the shares of common stock of Santa Anita Realty Enterprises, Inc. (Realty) and Santa Anita Operating Company, Inc. (OC), as evidenced by “back-to-back” stock certificates (the Paired Shares), constitute “qualifying employer securities” within the meaning of ERISA section 407(d)(5) with respect to the Plan. And further, whether the Plan's holdings of the common stock of Realty and OC violate ERISA section 404(a)(2) or 407.

**1980**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1981-04A 12/22/1980 408(b)(5)	John W. Rossitter, Esq. Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company 140 Garden Street Hartford, Connecticut 06115	Your submission concerns the prohibited transaction rules provided under sections 406 and 408 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (the Act), and section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (the Code).
1981-03A 12/22/1980 103	Mr. Homer L. Elliott Drinker Biddle & Reath 1100 Philadelphia National Bank Building Broad and Chestnut Streets Philadelphia, PA 19107	Advisory opinion regarding (1) the requirement contained in section 103(a)(3)(A) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that a plan engage an independent qualified public accountant, and (2) the requirement of section 103(b) of ERISA that a plan include in its annual report a report from such qualified public accountant regarding the financial status of the plan.
1981-02A 12/22/1980 514(a)	Mr. Michael C. Greenfield Asher, Goodstein, Pavalon, Gittler, Greenfield and Segall, Ltd. 228 North LaSalle Street Chicago, Illinois 60601	Whether the participant whose benefits are garnished must be in pay status when the court decree is entered or when the decree is enforced.