{"id":266,"date":"2015-09-30T23:24:54","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T06:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/?p=266"},"modified":"2016-03-01T13:13:23","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T21:13:23","slug":"designation-of-a-named-fiduciary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/30\/designation-of-a-named-fiduciary\/","title":{"rendered":"Designation of a Named Fiduciary"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joseph A. Garofolo<\/a><\/p>\n

ERISA \u00a7\u00a7 402(a)(1) and\u00a0(2)\u00a0require a\u00a0plan to designate, or provide a procedure for designating,\u00a0one or more named fiduciaries “who\u00a0jointly or severally shall have authority to control and manage the operation and administration of the plan.”\u00a0 The designation of a named fiduciary\u00a0or fiduciaries can\u00a0become important\u00a0in\u00a0401(k) plan fiduciary breach and other ERISA litigation because it effectively forecloses the\u00a0person or persons so designated from arguing that they are not fiduciaries with attendant duties.<\/p>\n

But how specific does the designation of a named fiduciary\u00a0have to be?<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the Department of Labor provided early interpretive guidance, now\u00a0codified in 29 C.F.R. \u00a7 2509.75-5, relating to this issue.\u00a0 This guidance, issued in 1975, answers three basic\u00a0questions relating to the designation of named fiduciaries.<\/p>\n

First, the Department indicated yes in response to the question of whether the designation of a committee by position or by individual\u00a0satisfies the requirements of ERISA \u00a7 402(a).<\/p>\n

Second,\u00a0with regard to a collectively bargained plan, the Department explained that ERISA \u00a7 402(a) is satisfied if a\u00a0“joint board is clearly identified as the entity which has authority to control and manage the operation and administration of the plan.”\u00a0 29 C.F.R. \u00a7 2509.75-5, FR-2.\u00a0 The Department\u00a0continued that each member of the joint board would be a named fiduciary under such a situation.<\/p>\n

And, third, the Department confirmed that a plan may\u00a0name\u00a0a corporation\/plan sponsor\u00a0as the named fiduciary.\u00a0 The Department\u00a0indicated that the plan instrument designating the corporation “should provide for designation by the corporation of specified individuals or other persons to carry out specified fiduciary responsibilities under the plan, in accordance with section 405(c)(1)(B) of the Act.”\u00a0 29 C.F.R. \u00a7 2509.75-5, FR-3.<\/p>\n

Early Department of Labor interpretative guidance is often a good place to start when seeking clarification regarding fundamental fiduciary responsibilities. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Joseph A. Garofolo ERISA \u00a7\u00a7 402(a)(1) and\u00a0(2)\u00a0require a\u00a0plan to designate, or provide a procedure for designating,\u00a0one or more named fiduciaries “who\u00a0jointly or severally shall have authority to control and manage the operation and administration of the plan.”\u00a0 The designation of a named fiduciary\u00a0or fiduciaries can\u00a0become important\u00a0in\u00a0401(k) plan fiduciary breach and other ERISA litigation because … <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,12,17,11,13,16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-jgarofolo","4":"post-266","6":"format-standard","7":"category-401k-plans","8":"category-definition-of-fiduciary","9":"category-disability-plans","10":"category-erisa-regulations","11":"category-fiduciary-duties","12":"category-health-plans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275,"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erisa-experts.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}