Field Assistance Bulletins

2008

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2008-03
  Subject: Guidance Regarding Qualified Default Investment Alternatives (29 CFR § 2550.404c-5)
  Issue: Guidance on recurring questions raised concerning the scope and meaning of various provisions of the final QDIA regulation.

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2008-02
  Subject: Wellness Program Analysis
  Issue: What types of health promotion or disease prevention programs offered by a group health plan must comply with the Department’s final wellness program regulations and how does a plan determine whether such a program is in compliance with the regulations?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2008-01
  Subject: Fiduciary Responsibility for Collection of Delinquent Contributions
  Issue: What are the responsibilities of named fiduciaries and trustees of ERISA-covered plans for the collection of delinquent employer and employee contributions?

2007

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2007-04
  Subject: Supplemental health insurance coverage as excepted benefits under HIPAA and related legislation
  Issue: What are the circumstances under which supplemental health insurance coverage satisfies the requirements for excepted benefits under sections 732(c)(3) and 733(c)(4) of ERISA?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2007-03
  Subject: Periodic Pension Benefit Statements For Non-Participant Directed Individual Account Plans

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2007-02
  Subject: ERISA Coverage Of IRC § 403(b) Tax-Sheltered Annuity Programs
  Issue: How do the Department of the Treasury/Internal Revenue Service regulations governing Internal Revenue Code § 403(b) tax-sheltered annuity programs affect the status of such programs under the Department of Labor's safe harbor regulation at 29 C.F.R. § 2510.3-2(f)?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2007-01
  Subject: Statutory Exemption For Investment Advice
  Issue: Guidance relating to the investment advice provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

2006

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2006-03
  Subject: Periodic Pension Benefit Statements - Pension Protection Act of 2006
  Issue: Interim guidance relating to individual benefit statements and notices of freedom to divest employer securities pursuant to the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2006-02
  Subject: Health Savings Accounts - ERISA Q&As
  Issue: Guidance on recurring questions about ERISA coverage of health savings accounts (HSAs) and evolving practices in the offering of HSAs in the workplace.

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2006-01
  Subject: The distribution to plans of settlement proceeds relating to late trading and market-timing
  Issue: What are the duties and responsibilities under ERISA of independent distribution consultants (IDCs), plan service-providers and fiduciaries with respect to the allocation and distribution of mutual fund settlement proceeds to plans and plan participants?

2004

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2004-03
  Subject: Fiduciary Responsibilities of Directed Trustees
  Issue: In the context of publicly traded securities, what are the fiduciary responsibilities of a directed trustee?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2004-02
  Subject: Fiduciary Duties and Missing Participants in Terminated Defined Contribution Plans
  Issue: What does a plan fiduciary need to do in order to fulfill its fiduciary obligations under ERISA with respect to: (1) locating a missing participant of a terminated defined contribution plan; and (2) distributing an account balance when efforts to communicate with a missing participant fail to secure a distribution election?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2004-01
  Subject: Health Savings Accounts
  Issue: Whether Health Savings Accounts established in connection with employment-based group health plans constitute "employee welfare benefit plans" for purposes of Title I of ERISA?

2003

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2003-03
  Subject: Allocation of Expenses in a Defined Contribution Plan
  Issue: What rules apply to how expenses are allocated among plan participants in a defined contribution pension plan?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2003-02
  Subject: Application of Participant Contribution Requirements to Multiemployer Defined Contribution Pension Plans
  Issue: In the context of a multiemployer defined contribution pension plan, to what extent may collective bargaining, employer participation and similar agreements be taken into account in determining when participant contributions can reasonably be segregated from the general assets of participating employers?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2003-01
  Subject: Participant Loans to Corporate Directors and Officers
  Issue: May a plan administrator deny participant loans to directors and executive officers of the sponsoring employer of the plan on the basis that such loans may violate Section 13(k) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 without contravening the requirement of section 408(b)(1) of ERISA that loans be made available to all participants on a reasonably equivalent basis?

2002

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2002-03
  Subject: Disclosure and other Obligations Relating to “Float”
  Issue: What does a fiduciary need to consider in evaluating the reasonableness of an agreement under which the service provider will be retaining “float” and what information is a service provider required to disclose to plan fiduciaries with respect to such arrangements in order to avoid engaging in a prohibited transaction?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2002-02
  Subject: Plan Amendments Made by Multiemployer Plan Trustees
  Issue: Were the trustees of two related multiemployer plans subject to ERISA's fiduciary standards when they amended the plan's trust agreement?

• Field Assistance Bulletin 2002-01
  Subject: ESOP Refinancing Transactions
  Issue: What are the obligations of a fiduciary under sections 404(a) and 408(b)(3) of ERISA in connection with the refinancing of an exempt ESOP loan?