Advisory Opinions

Requests for interpretations and other rulings under Title 1 of ERISA are handled by the Office of Regulations and Interpretations under the provisions established by ERISA Procedure 76-1. The office answers inquiries from individuals and organizations in the form of advisory opinions, which apply the law to a specific set of facts, or information letters, which merely call attention to well established principles or interpretations.

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**1983**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1983-24A 05/18/1983 3(32)	Mr. Leon Rothenberg Executive Director Federation of Tax Administrators 444 North Capitol Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20001	Whether the Federation of Tax Administrators Staff Pension Plan is a governmental plan within the meaning of section 3(32) of ERISA.
1983-23A 05/18/1983	Mr. Thomas J. Moore Faegre & Benson 1300 Northwestern Bank Building Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402-1790	Whether the arrangement described in the 403-B7 Group Custodial Account Agreement (the Agreement) would constitute a program described in Department of Labor regulation 29 C.F.R. §2510.3-2(f) related to tax-sheltered annuities and, therefore, would not be covered by title I of ERISA.
1983-22A 05/09/1983 3(1) 3(4) 3(40) 3(5) 514	Ms. Barbara B. Creed Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro Post Office Box 7880 San Francisco, California 94120	Whether certain benefit programs sponsored by the Legal Services Nationwide Employee Benefits Organization, Inc. (NEBO), are employee welfare benefit plans within the meaning of section 3(1) of ERISA.
1983-21A 05/09/1983 103(a) 3(2) 3(5)	Mr. Paul P. Truncali Pension Plan Sponsor United Way Comptroller United Way of Greater New Haven One State Street New Haven, Connecticut 06511	Whether the Employee Benefit Plan of the United Way of Greater New Haven, Inc., and Affiliated Agencies (the EBP) is a single employee pension plan as defined by section 3(2)(A) of ERISA, and whether it must file an audited financial statement under section 103(a)(3)(A) of ERISA and Department of Labor regulation 29 C.F.R. §2520.104-46.
1983-20A 04/27/1983 406(b)(1) 406(b)(2) 408(c )(2)	Re: Identification Number: F-2528A	Whether the retention of an investment manager who has pension funds in a master trust (Common Trust) with other parties in interest and fiduciaries of the Common Trust and the payment from the Common Trust of the direct expenses of Investment allocable to the Common Trust for investment management services performed (which expenses include the reasonable compensation of employees of Investment) are prohibited transactions under section 406 of ERISA and section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (the Code).
1983-19A 04/21/1983	Mr. Thomas A. Jorgensen Calfee, Halter & Griswold 1800 Central Bank Building Cleveland, Ohio 44114	Whether stop-loss insurance contracts sold to Figgie International Inc. by Colony Insurance Company, which is wholly owned by a Figgie subsidiary, to pay benefits under the Figgie International Inc. Family Protection Plan (the Family Plan) and under the Figgie International Inc. Disability Plan for Salaried Employees (the Disability Plan) after the applicable Plan has paid benefits up to a certain specified dollar amount are "life insurance, health insurance or annuity contracts" as that term is used in the Department of Labor’s PTE 79-41, which provide a class exemption from sections 406(a), 406(b)(l) and (b)(2) of ERISA.
1983-18A 04/15/1983 408(b)(4)	Mr. Ronald W. Powell Counsel Investors Diversified Services, Inc. IDS Tower Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402	Whether the Investor’s Syndicate of America (ISA) is a “bank or similar financial institution within the meaning of section 408(b)(4) of ERISA and the face-amount certificates issued by ISA to the Employees’ Incentive and Thrift Plan of Investors Diversified Services Inc. and its Subsidiary and Associated Companies (the Plan) are “deposits which bear a reasonable interest rate” within the meaning of the same section of ERISA.
1983-17A 03/29/1983 3(1) 3(5) 3(7)	Mr. Paul K. Casey Piper & Marbury 1100 Charles Center South 36 South Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201	Whether the Ryland Group, Inc. Health Benefit Plan, which is self-funded up to a specified amount, is an employee welfare benefit plan as defined by section 3(1) of ERISA.
1983-15A 03/22/1983 3(2) 3(4) 3(5)	Mr. Louis T. Mazawey Groom & Nordberg, Chtd. Suite 450 1775 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006	Whether the Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) offered by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States to members of certain professional associations are employee pension benefit plans within the meaning of section 3(2) of ERISA.
1983-14A 03/14/1983 3(1) 3(5) 514	Mr. George R. Kamperschroer Boardman, Suhr, Curry & Field First Wisconsin Plaza, Suite 410 One South Pinckney Street Madison, Wisconsin 53701	Whether (1) each bank that provides employee benefits through the Wisconsin Bankers Association Insurance Trust Fund (the Trust) establishes its own separate employee welfare trust within the meaning of section 3(1) of ERISA, (2) the Trust is an employee welfare benefit plan under ERISA section 3(1) and (3) whether the Trust is a trust established under one or more employee benefit plan within the meaning of ERISA section 514(b)(2)(B) and not engaged in the business of insurance under the law of any state.