ERISA Advisory Opinion on Ace Hardware Cooperative Group Health Plan

This document is about an advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration regarding the applicability of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to the Ace Hardware Corporation Cooperative Group Health Plan. The Department concludes that the Ace Plan Employers would constitute a bona fide employer group or association under ERISA section 3(5) and that the Plan would be an employee welfare benefit plan and a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) under ERISA. However, the Department notes that whether the Ace Plan Employers exercise control in substance over the benefit program is an inherently factual issue on which the Department generally will not rule in an advisory opinion.