Publication Date

2016

Journal

Cardozo Law Review De-Novo

Abstract

In Interpretive Bulletin 2015-01 (IB 2015-01), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) renewed the now two-decades old battle over “economically targeted investments” (ETIs). As a matter of statutory interpretation, IB 2015-01, like its predecessors, is unpersuasive. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires plan trustees to invest “solely” to provide participants’ retirement benefits. A trustee who invests in ETIs violates this statutory obligation by pursuing collateral economic benefits for persons other than plan participants. As a matter of policy, the social investing which ETIs exemplify is unsound. At best, such social investing in practice merely shuffles investment ownership without altering market-based allocations of capital.

Volume

2016

First Page

197

Last Page

206

Publisher

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Keywords

Labor Law, Housing Law, Fiduciaries, Contracts

Disciplines

Contracts | Housing Law | Labor and Employment Law | Law

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