DOJ Says DOL Fiduciary Rule Delay Coming Wednesday

DOJ Says DOL Fiduciary Rule Delay Coming Wednesday
April 4, 2017 Marketing GrafWebCUSO

A Department of Justice filing on April 3 indicates that the Department of Labor will officially institute a delay of its fiduciary rule Wednesday morning.

DOJ told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that the Office of Management and Budget review of Labor’s draft rule is “nearly complete,” and that Labor anticipates that the final rule will be transmitted to the Office of the Federal Register on Tuesday.

Labor, DOJ said, has requested that the rule be made “publicly available” Wednesday morning and published in the Federal Register no later than April 7.

Labor sent to OMB on March 29 its final rule requesting a 60-day delay to the implementation date of its fiduciary rule.

The rule must be approved by OMB. Once approved, it will be sent back to Labor for publication in the Federal Register.

Labor announced on March 1 its proposed rule to extend for 60 days — from April 10 to June 9 — the applicability date of its fiduciary rule under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

The proposal allowed for a 15-day comment period.

Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted 12-11 on March 30 to support the nomination of R. Alexander Acosta to be the next secretary of Labor.

Acosta told members of the HELP Committee during his March 22 confirmation hearing that the criteria set out in President Donald Trump’s Feb. 3 executive order directing Labor to review its fiduciary rule “really regulates and determines the Department of Labor’s approach to the fiduciary rule.”

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