Compliance Stuff

On May 12, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) No. 2026-02 addressing its temporary enforcement policy regarding pension benefit statements under Section 105(a)(2)(E) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). 0:00 6:26 Quick Hits On May 12, 2026, the DOL announced temporary enforcement relief for retirement plan administrators that make good faith efforts to follow the new paper pension benefit statement rules. The policy allows plan administrators to rely on reasonable interpretations of the proposed rules until the DOL issues final guidance. Plan sponsors using electronic delivery may want to consider giving newly eligible participants an initial paper notice about their right to request paper documents. Background Section 105(a)(2) of ERISA through Section 338(a) of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) requires that defined contribution plans furnish at least one pension...

On March 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) designed to reduce the regulatory risk if permitted investment options in 401(k) retirement plans include nontraditional investments such as private equity and cryptocurrency. 00:00 11:02 Quick Hits The DOL proposed a six-factor safe harbor to meet a fiduciary’s duty of prudence when selecting designated investment alternatives under participant-directed defined contribution plans. The proposed regulation does not apply to brokerage windows or self-directed brokerage accounts under defined contribution plans.  This proposal follows President Trump’s executive order aimed at increasing access to alternative assets and reversing earlier Biden-era guidance that discouraged such investments due to risk concerns.  By clarifying the fiduciary process affording discretion to plan fiduciaries to select investments, the DOL hopes the c...

At a Glance The Policy Week in Review, prepared by Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute (WPI), sets forth WPI’s updates on federal, state, and local matters. NLRB Division of Advice Recommends Dismissal of Expansive Charges The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Division of Advice (“Advice”) released a series of memos that recommended dismissal of charges that appear to have taken expansive views of Biden-era Board precedents . Advice is a department of the Board that provides guidance to regional offices about novel or difficult legal issues . In these memos, Advice recommended that the regional officials dismiss three charges. The first involved a union’s claim for recognition in an expanded unit where the union didn’t file a failure to bargain charge necessary to get a bargaining order. The second involved a newspaper employee’s criticism of the employer on a Slack channel and a related work rule. The third involved an allegedly overbroad non-solicitation provision in a former em...