Advisory Opinions

Whether, in the absence of language in the trust instrument which restricts or precludes the trustees of a union pension trust fund from authorizing voluntary disclosure of data to a government agency, such disclosure would be prohibited by section 406 of ERISA, and, if not, whether any provision of ERISA would preclude such a trust fund from assuming the reasonable costs of producing the data requested by the government agency.

Whether investing the assets of a small pension or profit-sharing plan exclusively in shares of a mutual fund violates the diversification requirement under section 404(a)(1)(C) of ERISA.

This inquiry addresses the potential violation of section 404(a)(1) of ERISA regarding monthly payments made to a former administrative manager under the plan’s authorization, despite the fact that the individual was not permitted to be employed by the Funds.

Whether sections 404, 406, 407 and 408(e) of ERISA apply to profit sharing plans that propose to acquire either employer securities or preferred stock issued by corporations that own 100 percent of the outstanding shares of employers whose employees are covered by such profit-sharing plans.

Whether an enclosed written instrument satisfies requirements under ERISA and how to obtain rules and regulations, including reporting forms, adopted under the Act.

This inquiry addresses two concerns regarding reporting requirements and fiduciary liability under ERISA: (1) whether employee welfare benefit plans covering fewer than 100 participants may be exempt from certain reporting and disclosure provisions if the benefits are provided solely from the employer’s general assets or through insurance contracts, with premiums paid directly by the employer or employee organization; and (2) fiduciary liability under ERISA, particularly for health and life insurance plans funded through insurance carriers.

Whether World Bank Bonds are legal investments for multiemployer plans under ERISA.

This inquiry addresses two questions pertaining to ERISA: (1) does section 404(c) of the Act exempt all "earmarked" transactions made in compliance with the terms of an employee benefit plan? (2) will the excise taxes of section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 be levied in respect of a transaction which falls within section 404(c) of the Act?

Whether maintaining the indicia of ownership of plan assets outside the U.S. is permissible under section 404(b) of ERISA.

Whether a plan’s purchase of policies on an insurance company's general assets account results in the plan's assets consisting of the policies, rather than the underlying assets of the insurance company.