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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**1981**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1981-61A 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.
1981-60A 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.
1981-59A 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.
1981-58A 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).
1981-57A 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.
1981-56A 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.
1981-55A 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.
1981-54A 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.
1981-53A 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.
1981-52A 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).