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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**2018**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
2018-01A 11/05/2018 3(21)(A) 4975	J. Spencer Williams Founder, President and CEO Retirement Clearinghouse, LLC 3545 Whitehall Park Drive, Suite 400 Charlotte, NC 28273	This advisory opinion concerns the status of certain parties as fiduciaries within the meaning of section 3(21)(A) of ERISA and section 4975(e)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as a result of actions undertaken as part of a Retirement Clearinghouse Auto Portability Program designed to help employees consolidate certain small accounts in plans and IRAs when they change jobs.

**2017**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
2017-02AC 05/16/2017 3(40) 3(5)	Darcy L. Hitesman Hitesman & Wold 12900 – 63^rdAvenue North Maple Grove, MN 55369	Whether a sub-group of employer members of a trade association could constitute a “group or association of employers” within the meaning of section 3(5) of ERISA capable of sponsoring a multiple employer plan, and whether a group health plan proposed by the sub-group would constitute a multiple employer welfare arrangement within the meaning of section 3(40) of ERISA.
2017-01A 01/13/2017 3(1) 3(40)	Vanessa A. Scott, Esq. Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP 700 Sixth Street NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20001-3980	This advisory opinion concerns how the definition of employee welfare benefit plan and the definition of multiple employer welfare arrangement might apply to a program of administrative services.

**2015**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
2015-02A 10/19/2015 401(b)	Nancy S. Gerrie McDermott Will & Emery 227 West Monroe Street Chicago, Illinois 60606-5096	Whether stop-loss insurance policies purchased by a plan sponsor to manage risk associated with a self-insured contributory welfare plan would constitute plan assets.
2015-01A 10/19/2015 3(1) 3(4)	Christopher Chediak Weintraub Tobin 400 Capitol Mall, 11th Floor Sacramento, California 95814	Whether a long term disability program is an "employee welfare benefit plan" within the meaning of ERISA 3(1) sponsored by the California Law Enforcement Association as an "employees' beneficiary association" within the meaning of ERISA 3(4).

**2013**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
2013-05A 11/01/2013 PTE 84-14	Susan M. Camillo, Esq. Dechert LLP 200 Clarendon Street, 27th Floor Boston, MA 02116-5021	Whether certain deferred prosecution agreements entered into by an investment manager's affiliate constitute criminal "convictions" for purposes of Section I(g) of PTE 84-14, thereby disqualifying the investment manager from acting as a qualified professional asset manager under PTE 84-14.
2013-04A 09/09/2013 PTE 77-4	Melanie Franco Nussdorf, Esq. Steptoe & Johnson LLP 1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036	Whether the delivery of a "summary prospectus" satisfies certain disclosure requirements of PTE 77-4.
2013-03A 07/03/2013 2510.3-101 404 406	Stephen M. Saxon Andree M. St. Martin Groom Law Group, Chartered 1701 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20006-5811	This advisory opinion concerns the application of ERISA plan asset and fiduciary obligations to contractual arrangements between plans and service providers whereby a plan obtains credits or rights to share in revenue sharing payments the service provider receives as a result of plan investments.
2013-02A 06/12/2013 3(37)	Andrew F. Zazzali, Jr., Esq. Zazzali, Fagella, Nowak, Kleinbaum & Friedman One Riverfront Plaza, Suite 320 Newark, New Jersey 07102	Whether documents involving participation in the Teamsters Joint Council No. 73 Pension Plan by “officers, business agents, trustees, or clerical employees” of the Joint Council and local unions affiliated with the Joint Council constitute “collective bargaining agreements” for purposes of making an election that the plan be treated as a multiemployer plan pursuant to ERISA section 3(37)(G)(i)(II).
2013-01A 02/07/2013 3(14) 3(21) 406 PTE 84-14 PTE 96-23	Melanie Franco Nussdorf, Esq. Steptoe & Johnson LLP 1330 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036-1795	This advisory opinion concerns the application of the fiduciary and prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA to certain “cleared swap” transactions conducted pursuant to provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act.