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.

Data Dictionary

1992
AO/ Date/ Reference Recipient Description of Request
05/20/1992
3(40)
514(b)(6)(A)

Mr. Jerry W. Fickes 
New Mexico Department of Insurance 
P.O. Drawer 1269 
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1269

Whether the health benefit program offered by New Mexico Medical Associates, Inc. (NMMA) is a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) within the meaning of section 3(40) of title I of ERISA and therefore subject to the applicable insurance laws of the State of New Mexico to the extent permitted under section 514(b)(6)(A) of ERISA.

05/19/1992
301(a)(3)
4(b)(5), 201(2)
401(a)(1)

Mr. William J. Kilberg 
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
1050 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036-5306

Whether a "rabbi trust” which is designed to invest primarily in employer stock, would be "unfunded" for the purposes of the so-called "excess benefit" and "top hat" plan exemptions under sections 4(b)(5), 201(2), 301(a)(3) and 401(a)(1) of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

04/20/1992
3(1)

Mr. Erwin A. Peterson 
Peterson, Bell, Converse & Jensen 
2780 North Snelling Avenue 
Suite 327
Roseville, Minnesota 55113

Whether an employee welfare benefit plan within the meaning of section 3(1) of title I of ERISA may provide benefits not specifically set forth in that section.

03/31/1992
403(a)
404(a)(1)

Mr. Stanley Neyhart
Neyhart, Anderson, Nussbaum, 
Reilly & Freitas
P.O. Box 7426
San Francisco, CA 94120

Whether unit voting procedures used by the Boards of Trustees; specifically, the Greyhound Lines, Inc.- Amalgamated Council Retirement and Disability Trust; Greyhound Lines, Inc.- Amalgamated Council Health and Welfare Trust; Greyhound Lines, Inc.- Amalgamated Council Cash or Deferred Trust; and the West Des Moines-Greyhound Amalgamated Council Health and Welfare Trust comply with section 403 and 404 of ERISA.

03/24/1992
3(32)

Mr. Ernest J. Korpela 
Administrator 
Cooperative Educational Service 
Agency No. 12
301 Thirteenth Avenue East
Ashland, Wisconsin 54806

Whether the Northern Wisconsin Schools Employee Benefit Plan and Trust is a "governmental plan" within the meaning of section 3(32) of title I of ERISA and, therefore, is excluded by section 4(b)(1) from coverage under that title.

03/24/1992
3(33)
4(b)(2)

Ms. Diane C. Sonderegger 
Kennedy, Holland, DeLacy & Svoboda 
Kennedy Holland Building 
10306 Regency Parkway Drive
Omaha, Nebraska 68114

Whether the Franciscan Healthcare Corporation of Colorado Springs Retirement Plan constitutes a church plan within the meaning of section 3(33) of title I of ERISA and, accordingly, whether the plan is excluded from the requirements of title I of ERISA by section 4(b)(2) thereof.

02/20/1992
406(a)
406(b)
406(b)(1)

Mr. Leon E. Irish
Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue
Metropolitan Square
1450 G Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20005-2088

Whether the proposed formation and operation of the International Small Float Fund, a limited partnership violate the prohibited transaction provisions of ERISA.

02/20/1992
3(40)
514(b)(6)

Mr. Lee P. Jedziniak 
South Carolina Department of Insurance 
P.O. Box 100105 
Columbia, South Carolina 29202-3105

Whether the Alliance Employee Leasing Corporation I Voluntary Employees' Beneficiary Association Plan and Trust (the Trust) is an employee welfare benefit plan within the meaning of section 3(1) of title I of ERISA, and whether the Trust is a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA), within the meaning of ERISA section 3(40) and, therefore, subject to applicable state insurance laws at least to the extent permitted under section 514(b)(6)(A) of title I of ERISA.

02/07/1992
3(40)
514(b)(6)(A)

Mr. Clifford J. Hudson 
Investigator, Unit 109-3A 
Texas State Board of Insurance 
333 Guadalupe Street
P.O. Box 149104
Austin, Texas 78714-9104

Whether the Homefurnishings Manufacturers Association Health Benefit Trust is a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA) within the meaning of section 3(40) of title I of ERISA and therefore subject to applicable state regulation.

01/27/1992
3(40)
514(b)(6)

Mr. Chuck Huff 
Georgia Insurance Department 
Seventh Floor, West Tower 
Floyd Building 
2 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive
Atlanta, Georgia 30334

Whether the Action Staffing, Inc. health benefit program is an employee welfare benefit plan within the meaning of section 3(1) of title I of ERISA, and whether the Action Staffing, Inc. health benefit program is a multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA), within the meaning of ERISA section 3(40) and, therefore, subject to applicable state insurance laws at least to the extent permitted under section 514(b)(6)(A) of title I of ERISA.