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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**1980**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1980-66A 11/13/1980 3(2)	Mr. A. Kimbrough Davis Kilpatrick & Cody 3100 Equitable Building 100 Peachtree Street Atlanta, Georgia 30303	Whether a "Gratuitous Pay Plan" proposed by the Fulton National Bank of Atlanta (Fulton) is not an employee benefit plan within the meaning of ERISA section 3(3).
1980-65A 11/13/1980 3(1) 3(2)	Mr. Ronald s. Rizzo Kindel & Anderson Twenty-sixth Floor 555 South Flower Street Los Angeles, California 90071	Whether the proposed Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the Plan) of Applied Magnetics Corporation (the Company) is an employee benefit plan covered by ERISA title I.
1980-64A 11/03/1980 104	Mr. Charles H. Harris Charles H. Harris & Associates, Inc. 1151 W. Robinhood Drive, Suite 12B Stockton, California 95207	Whether the limited exemption set forth in regulation 29 C.F.R. §2520.104-21 for certain group insurance arrangements is available with respect to the San Joaquin Employers Insurance Trust (SJET).
1980-63A 11/03/1980 3(1) 3(4)	Mr. Dan S. Brandenburg Mercier, Sanders, Baker & Schnabel, P.C. Suite 800 730 Fifteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20005	Whether the WAEPA Group Insurance Plan (the Program) is an employee welfare benefit plan within the meaning of section 3(1) of ERISA.
1980-62A 10/28/1980 407(d)(3)	Mr. William A. Kelley, Jr. Dechert, Price & Rhoads 3400 Centre Square West 1500 Market Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102	Whether the purchase by the Plan of Vipond & Vipond, Inc. common stock would not violate the prohibited transaction rules of section 406 of ERISA by reason of the statutory exemption contained in section 408(e).
1980-61A 10/22/1980 4(b)	Mr. Richard H. Fay Reed Smith Shaw & McClay 1150 Connecticut Avenue Washington, D.C. 20036	Whether the Rockwell International Overseas Corporation International Pension Plan (the Plan) is a plan maintained outside the United States primarily for persons substantially all of whom are nonresident aliens within the meaning of ERISA section 4(b)(4) and thus is not covered by title I of ERISA.
1980-60A 10/09/1980 514(a)	Mr. Richard D. Sommers Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Krepack Two Century Plaza Suite 1900 2049 Century Park East Los Angeles, California 90067	Whether the State of California's Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (the "California Act") is preempted under ERISA section 514R with respect to the Retail Clerks Unions and Food Employers Benefit Fund, the General Sales Employer-Retail Clerks Unions Supplementary Trust Fund and the Southern California Drug Benefit Fund (the "Funds") each of which is a multi-employer trust fund established pursuant to section 302 of the Labor-Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. §186 and each of which is an employee welfare benefit plan as defined in section 3(1) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA").
1980-58A 10/01/1980 408(c )(2)	Mr. Martin R. Ganzglass Delson & Gordon 1900 L Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036	Whether the Graphic Arts International Union Supplemental Retirement and Disability Fund (the Fund) may pay its trustees a per diem allowance under section 408(c)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) in lieu of reimbursing the trustees for actual expenses incurred in the performance of their duties for the plan.
1980-57A 10/01/1980 407(d)(3)	Louise A. Jackson, Esquire Marshall, Melhorn, Cole, Hummer & Spitzer Fourteenth Floor National Bank Building Toledo, Ohio 43604	Whether the proposed sale of six retail shoe stores by Kobacker Stores, Inc. (Kobacker), the Plan sponsor, to the Plan and the subsequent leaseback of those stores by the Plan to Kobacker would be exempt from the prohibited transactions provisions of sections 406(a) and 407(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) by virtue of section 408(e) of ERISA.
1980-56A 09/03/1980 103	Mr. Daniel J. Robins Vice President and Secretary National Health and Welfare Retirement Association, Inc. 360 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10010	Whether the National Health and Welfare Retirement Association (NHWRA) is an "insurance company" within the meaning of the definition of the term "investment manager" in section 3(38) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and an insurance carrier regulated and supervised and subject to periodic examination by a State agency within the meaning of 29 CFR §2520.103-4 (which provides an exemption from certain annual reporting requirements for assets held in an insurance company pooled separate account).