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

1988
AO/ Date/ Reference Recipient Description of Request
02/22/1988
406(b)
408(b)2)
408(c )(2)

Identification Number: F-3673A

Whether the [ ] Corporation Master Retirement Trust A and the [ ] Corporation Master Retirement Trust B (collectively, the Master Trusts) of [ ] Corporation, which provides investment-related services to the Master Trusts and the payment by the Master Trusts of the direct expenses of [ ] allocable to performing such services and which expenses include the reasonable compensation of employees of [ ], do not constitute prohibited transactions under section 406 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

02/02/1988
406(b)(1)
406(b)(3)
408(b)(2)

Ms. Charlotte D. Roederer
Vice President and Associate General Counsel
Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company
One M&T Plaza
Buffalo, NY 14240

Whether the transactions of certain “sweep services” provided by Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company to employee benefit plans, for which the Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company acts as custodian or directed trustee, would qualify for the statutory exemptions provided by sections 408(b)(2) and/or 408(b)(6) of ERISA.

01/11/1988
3(1)
3(5)
3(7)

Henry Rose,
Esq. Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
Ninth Floor
1140 19th Street,
N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036

Whether the Rosenberg Bank and Trust Group Life and Health Insurance Plan, providing medical benefits for the Rosenberg Bank and Trust employees and employees of certain of its subsidiaries under an insurance policy issued and underwritten by the Travelers Insurance Company constitutes an "employee welfare benefit plan", as defined in ERISA section 3(1), for purposes of title I of ERISA.

1987
AO/ Date/ Reference Recipient Description of Request
12/21/1987
3(4)
3(40)
3(5)

Ms. Julia L. Jenness
Downey, Brand, Seymour & Rohwer
555 Capitol Mall, 10th Floor
Sacramento, California 95814-4686

Whether the California Pharmaceutical Association Insurance Trust is an employee welfare benefit plan within the meaning of section 3(1) of title I of ERISA and whether the aforementioned Trust is a multiple employer welfare arrangement within the meaning of section 3(40) of title I of ERISA.

12/03/1987
104(b)(4)

Mr. Howard C. Herb, Jr.
P.O. Box 727
Media, Pennsylvania 19063

Whether the minutes of trustees’ meetings relating to the trustees’ review of an investment manager’s performance is required to be disclosed pursuant to section 104(b)(4) of ERISA.

11/25/1987
514(a)

Mr. Peter M. Kelly
Bell, Boyd & Lloyd
Three First National Plaza
Suite 3200
70 West Madison Street
Chicago, Illinois 60602

Whether the Act 489 of the Acts of Arkansas General Assembly of 1987as it applies to employee benefit plans covered by title I of ERISA is preempted under section 514(a) of ERISA; and whether it qualifies for the exception established in section 514(b)(8) of ERISA.

11/25/1987
3(32)
4(b)(1)

Mr. David K. Lauritzen Richards,
Brandt, Miller & Nelson CSB
Tower
50 South Main
Suite 700
P.O. Box 2465
Salt Lake City, Utah 84110

Whether the Employees' 401(k) Salary Reduction Retirement Plan and Trust, formed pursuant to an Act of the Utah legislature and maintained by several school districts and public education agencies is a "governmental plan" as defined by section 3(32) of title I of ERISA.

11/25/1987
3(32)
4(b)(1)

Mr. David T. Shelton
El Centro Regional Medical Center
1415 Ross Avenue
El Centro, California 92243-4398

Whether a voluntary deferred compensation plan for employees of El Centro Community Hospital d/b/a El Centro Regional Medical Center is a governmental plan within the meaning of section 3(32) of title I of ERISA and, thus, is excluded from coverage under title I of ERISA by section 4(b)(1).

11/09/1987
408(b)(2)

Mr. Richard D. Belford
Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

Whether the exemptions to the prohibited transaction rules provided in Part V of Prohibited Transaction Exemption 75-1 (40 FR 50845, October 31, 1975) (PTE 75-1) and section 408(b)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) apply to the extensions of credit by PaineWebber, Inc. to certain employee benefit plans as defined in section 3(3) of ERISA, plans qualified under section 401(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which are not subject to Title I of ERISA, and individual retirement accounts described in section 408(a) of the Code

06/08/1987

Mr. William E. Dickenson
Vice President, Personnel
Vantage Healthcare Corporation
530 Main Street
Evansville, Indiana 47708

Whether the Vantage Healthcare Employee Benefit Plan (the Plan), established by the Vantage Healthcare Corporation of Indiana, which owns manages, leases, and operates nursing homes in various locations, is an employee welfare benefit plan covered by title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and/or whether the Plan is a multiple employer welfare arrangement within the meaning of section 3(40) of ERISA.