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

1981
AO/ Date/ Reference Recipient Description of Request
07/21/1981
3(1)
3(4)

Mr. Ira Michael Shepard
Schmeltzer, Aptaker & Sheppard, P.C.
1800 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036

Whether the N&W Employees Credit Union (the Credit Union) is an employee organization within the meaning of section 3(4) of ERISA and whether a prepaid legal services program sponsored by the Credit Union for its members is an employee welfare benefit plan covered by ERISA title I.

07/21/1981
104
3(2)
3(3)

Mr. Homer L. Elliott
Drinker Biddle & Reath
1100 Philadelphia National Bank Building
Broad and Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107

Whether the Plan is not subject to the provisions of title I of ERISA.

07/15/1981
103
3(4)

Mr. William Kinnunen, Jr.
Chairman
Employees' Benefit Fund
Munising Mill of Kimberly-Clark Corporation
Munising, Michigan 49862

Whether the Fund is subject to the ERISA and whether an accountant's opinion is necessary as part of the annual report filed by the Fund. Finally, if the Fund's annual report is required to include an accountant's opinion you request that the Department of Labor (the Department) grant an exemption from that requirement.

07/02/1981
4(b)

Mr. J. Patrick Pokorny
Associate Director of Employee Benefits
Pickands Mather & Company
1100 Superior Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44114

Whether the Pension Plan for Bargaining Unit Employees of Wabush Mines, Pickands Mather & Company, Managing Agent, Arnaud Railway Company and Wabush Lake Railway Company, Limited (the Plan), constitutes an employee pension benefit plan subject to coverage under title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

06/29/1981
3(2)

Mr. Gary W. Maeder
Kindel & Anderson
Twenty-Sixth Floor
555 South Flower Street
Los Angeles, California 90071

Whether an individual retirement account (IRA) established by Christopher Stone to receive his distribution from his previous employer's tax-qualified retirement plan is subject to title I of ERISA.

06/29/1981
3(1)
3(32)
3(4)

Ms. Jane B. Stranch
Branstetter, Kilgore & Stranch
200 Church Street, Fourth Floor
Nashville, Tennessee 37201

Whether a group insurance program funded by the individual contributions of the members of an association composed of government employees constitutes an employee benefit plan within the meaning of ERISA title I.

06/26/1981
3(2)

Mr. Jay A. Herbst
Cross, Wrock, Miller & Vieson
Suite 1900
400 Renaissance Center
Detroit Michigan 48243

Whether the portion of the Plan which provides deferred vacation benefits (the deferral arrangement) will be regarded by the Department as solely an employee welfare benefit plan or will be deemed an employee pension benefit plan.

06/22/1981
3(7)

Mr. Richard M. Cosgrove
Executive Director
Lansing Mechanical Contractors Association
421 Seymour Avenue
Lansing, Michigan 48933

Whether certain individuals should be counted as participants in the Fund, and whether the Fund is exempt from certain reporting and disclosure requirements under ERISA.

06/18/1981
3(32)
4(b)(1)

Mr. Patrick E. Murphy
Faulkner, Banfield, Doogan & Holmes
Suite 201
311 Franklin Street
Juneau, Alaska 99801

Whether the Alaska Public Employees Legal Fund (the Legal Plan) is a "governmental plan" within the meaning of section 3(32) of ERISA.

06/15/1981
403(c )(1)
404(a)(1)(A)

Ms. Vivienne W. Nearing
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
61 Broadway
New York, New York 10006

Whether the  payment by the Trustees of the [redacted] Fund (the Fund) of a death benefit to the widow of [redacted], the Fund Manager, would, absent a legal obligation to pay such a benefit, does not, per se, violate the exclusive purpose of standard of section 403(c)(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the fiduciary responsibility standards of section 404(a)(1) of ERISA, or the prohibited transaction provisions of section 406 of ERISA and section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (the Code).