Posts tagged Employee Retirement Income Security Act
DOL once again set to tackle joint employer, independent contractor regulations
August 20, 2025 // Meanwhile, DOL in May told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that it would no longer defend the last administration’s rule allowing retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social and governance, or ESG, factors when making investment decisions from a lawsuit filed by several Republican-led states. In another shift, DOL in June said it would begin issuing opinion letters through five of its subagencies. The agency’s new regime published the first such letter in May on the subject of the independent contractor classification status for virtual marketplace company workers. The letter reinstated a stance DOL previously articulated in a 2019 letter that had been rescinded during the Biden administration.
Hearing Recap: “Investing for the Future: Honoring ERISA’s Promise to Participants”
May 3, 2025 // The Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee held a hearing examining the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Left’s efforts to manipulate ERISA plans to push a radical political agenda. These benefit plans hold an estimated $14 trillion in assets and benefit 156 million workers, retirees, and dependents.
Republican challenge to ESG investing rule could showcase risk to US agency powers
July 10, 2024 // The high court did just that in a June ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, saying judges instead should exercise their independent judgment in evaluating agency rules. That decision is expected to have a widespread impact on the government's ability to adopt new rules such as environmental, securities and labor regulations, and is part of a broader effort by conservative groups to rein in the powers of what they call "the administrative state."
Former president of Wilmington construction company pleads guilty to payroll scheme
September 12, 2023 // Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy’s office said Frank Loconte, 62, of Beverly, defrauded union workers of more than $1 million of overtime work and the IRS of more than $3 million by not making the required payroll tax and union dues withholdings and payments. Documents filed in federal court state Loconte used the funds for personal expenses, including vehicles, household improvements, golf club memberships, and personal property taxes for houses in Beverly, Ipswich and Andover, as well as Naples, Florida. Loconte, who served as the president of NER from 2009 to 2022, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to mail fraud and failing to pay taxes, which are charges that carry a combined sentence of up to 25 years in prison.
House attempt to override Biden comes up short Labor Department regulation regarding ESG investments will stand
March 24, 2023 // "Thanks to Democrats, workers can be placed into ESG investment vehicles by default, and if a fiduciary finds that two investments are equal, the fiduciary is allowed to use collateral ESG factors to break the tie, without justifying or documenting that decision,” Education and the Workforce Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, a North Carolina Republican, said during the floor debate on the veto message.
Biden’s first veto backs pension investments in ESG
March 22, 2023 // The House is set to vote Thursday on overriding the veto, which requires a two-thirds vote, or support from 290 members. That outcome is unlikely after the resolution of disapproval first passed the House 216-204 last month. The Labor Department regulation was finalized last year and sought to strike a compromise between financial services companies that wanted clear rules and plan sponsors that did not want to be required to consider environmental, social and governance factors. It reversed a Trump administration policy that made changes to how a 1974 law, known as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, is implemented.
Sen. Braun Introduce Bill To Maximize Americans’ Retirement Funds
November 25, 2022 // Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to require plan fiduciaries to select investments solely on pecuniary factors. If a fiduciary cannot distinguish between investments on pecuniary factors alone they may use non-pecuniary factors, but must provide participants reasoning for their decision. Pecuniary factors are defined as any factors that a fiduciary prudently determines is expected to have a material effect on the risk or return of an investment. fiduciary duty of plan administrators, ESG (environmental, social and governance) funds,