The DOL’s new framework provides fiduciaries with clearer guidance and a more defensible decision-making process, but it does not eliminate the underlying tensions between investment innovation and plan realities.

The incoming administration has not articulated a benefits agenda. However, there are certain trends we can anticipate over the next few years.

The United States Department of Labor has finalized new rules defining who is an investment fiduciary under ERISA. These new final rules mark the latest effort (started in 2010) to update a fiduciary definition that was initially adopted in 1975. The DOL also issued a new exemption allowing these fiduciaries to engage in certain transactions (such as accepting commissions) that would otherwise be prohibited.

The DOL has proposed regulations updating the definition of investment fiduciary. The proposed regulation seeks to create a uniform standard applicable to all investment advice provided to ERISA plans and to IRAs

The U.S. Department of Labor has issued new final regulations that attempt (once again) to clarify how plan fiduciaries can consider the use of environmental, social and governance factors (“ESG”) in making plan investment decisions. The goal of these new final regulations was to walk back regulations, finalized during the waning days of the Trump administration in December 2020, that placed obstacles in the way of fiduciaries considering the use of ESG factors.