ERISA Plan Fiduciaries’ Proxy Voting: Regulatory Updates
What are ISS and Glass Lewis and Why Should My Bank Care?
On Tuesday, February 27, 2024, a federal judge enjoined the enforcement of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”) against the state of Texas. Judge James Wesley Hendrix determined that a proxy voting rule in place during...more
Much has been written, on ML BeneBits and elsewhere, about the US Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) so-called “ESG Rule” issued in November 2022 (the DOL Rule). The DOL Rule, in part, addressed the appropriate factors for an...more
In November, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule (Final Rule) that will remove certain restrictions on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations in plan investments. These restrictions were...more
On October 14, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (the “DOL”) published in the Federal Register a new proposed regulation (the “Proposed Rules”) on fiduciary responsibility in...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) on October 14, 2021, released a new Proposed Regulation (the “Proposed Regulation”) generally relating to the prudence and loyalty duties under the fiduciary rules of the Employee...more
On March 10, 2021, the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) announced that it will not enforce or otherwise pursue enforcement actions with respect to two recently issued final rules amending...more
On March 10, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued a statement that it intends to revisit its final rules issued late last year on “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments” (summarized here) and...more
In a somewhat expected development, the US Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued an enforcement statement on Wednesday announcing that it will not enforce the recently published final...more
President Joe Biden has been in office for 34 days and his nominee for Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh, has not yet been confirmed. So far, Mr. Walsh has not publicly stated much regarding his views or intended priorities...more
Keeping up the steady stream of new and proposed guidance coming from the US Department of Labor (DOL), the Employee Benefits Security Administration issued a proposed regulation on September 4, 2020 that would require...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: On the heels of the Department of Labor’s June proposed regulation throwing cold water on plan fiduciaries’ selecting investments in the environment, social and governance (ESG) space, the agency has now...more
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) published Interpretive Bulletin (IB) 2016-1 on Dec. 29, 2016, relating to the exercise of shareholder rights and written statements of investment policy, including proxy...more
On December 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) released Interpretive Bulletin 2016-1 (“IB 2016-1”) relating to the voting of proxies on securities held in employee benefit plans. IB 2016-1 withdraws the...more
Proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis have both released updates to their policies that outline how they will form recommendations to shareholders on how they should vote on governance,...more