• DOL’s FAB & Technical Release 2026-01
  The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration recently released Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-01 and Technical Release 2026-01.
• Disaster Relief
  The IRS and PBGC have issued disaster relief in response to severe storms in Hawaii, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) recently released Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-01 and Technical Release 2026-01.

Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-01: enforcement priorities

Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2026-01 serves to update and clarify the EBSA’s enforcement priorities and guiding principles. As outlined in the bulletin, “the priorities and principles are designed to ensure that EBSA’s enforcement is fair, even-handed, responsive, and focused.” The guiding principles are outlined as follows:

1. EBSA will prioritize investigations evidencing the most egregious conduct or significant harm.
2. Consistent with the principles of fairness, EBSA will not regulate through enforcement whenever possible.
3. To ensure that EBSA is meeting its enforcement priorities and guidelines, and to ensure consistency of enforcement across all regions, all proposed significant enforcement activities must be reviewed by EBSA’s leadership.
4. EBSA’s enforcement must be responsive and timely.

FAB 2026-01 shifts enforcement focus to be in line with the updated principles. Civil enforcement cases will focus on making “the most significant difference in addressing harm to plan participants and beneficiaries – particularly when there is direct evidence of disloyalty or impermissible conflicts of interest.” The FAB is described as an internal DOL policy “directed at EBSA and its employees”.

Technical Release 2026-01: fiduciary and preemption rules for proxy advisors

EBSA Technical Release 2026-01 (the Release) provides guidance to plan administrators and other fiduciaries (subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974) that rely on proxy advisory services and addresses how ERISA interacts with certain state laws regulating proxy advisory services.

Background

ERISA imposes certain requirements on fiduciaries of retirement plans. Under ERISA, fiduciaries have a duty to act prudently, loyally, and solely in the interest of plan participants and beneficiaries. In 1975, the DOL provided a five-part test to determine whether a financial representative provides fiduciary investment advice. The DOL has long held that fiduciary duty includes the management of shareholder rights, including the right to vote proxies, as part of managing plan assets.

As defined in the Release,

• Proxy voting refers to the practice of casting ballots on behalf of those shareholders of a corporation who may not attend shareholder meetings in person to exercise voting rights appurtenant to their shares, and
• Proxy advisory firms may provide advice or recommendations for a fee to shareholders to help inform decisions about how to vote regarding proposals and other issues decided at shareholder meetings, and, in certain cases, may exercise discretion over the disposition of proxy votes by actually casting votes on behalf of clients.

Technical Release 2026-01

As outlined in its news release, the DOL states in the Release that proxy advisors regularly engage in conduct that makes them investment advice fiduciaries under the five-part test described above.

The Release states that proxy advisory firms must meet ERISA’s functional fiduciary requirements when they:

1. Exercise authority or control over shareholder rights attributable to shares that are ERISA plan assets, including the voting of proxies; or
2. Provide advice for a fee to ERISA plans about how such plans should exercise voting rights attributable to shares of stocks they own where the advice provided is on an ongoing basis, pursuant to a mutual understanding, and is relied upon as a primary basis for the plan’s voting decisions.

The Release states that shareholder rights, including the ability to vote proxies attributable to shares held by ERISA-governed employee benefit plans, are plan assets, and the management of these rights are subject to ERISA’s fiduciary duties, including the duty of loyalty. In addition, proxy voting decisions should be based solely on the factors that affect the economic value of the plan’s investment.

In addition to fiduciary status, the Release addresses the interaction with ERISA’s preemption provision. State laws may require proxy advisory firms to provide disclosures when their recommendations are based on non-financial objectives. While this state disclosure law may not be overridden by ERISA, any proxy advisory firm acting as an ERISA fiduciary or plan fiduciary relying on a recommendation must still follow ERISA’s fiduciary duties.

In response to severe storms and other disaster events, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) extended certain deadlines for individuals and businesses impacted by such events.

Impacted areas and dates

Individuals who reside or have a business in any of the following areas may be eligible for certain deadline relief:

Impacted deadlines

Below is a partial list of retirement-impact tax filing and payment deadlines that may be extended:

• Retirement plan loan repayments may be temporarily paused under Internal Revenue Code section 72(p)(2)
• Required minimum distributions under Internal Revenue Code section 401(a)(9)
• The 10% additional income tax continues to not apply even if the following is missed during the relief period:
  • Substantially equal payments made over the participant’s life or joint lives of the participant and designated beneficiary
  • Deadline for using a distribution from an IRA for a first-time home purchase by the close of the 120th day after the distribution is received
• Prior tax year contribution deadlines for retirement plans
• Indirect rollover distribution deadlines
  • 60-day rollovers
  • Rollover of qualified loan offsets
• Refunds as a result of
  • Excess deferrals
  • ADP/ACP non-discrimination testing
  • Eligible automatic contribution arrangement (EACA) withdrawals
  • Excess IRA contributions
• Deadline for recontributing qualified reservist distributions
• Form 5500 and Form 8955-SSA filing 
• Form 5948 for IRAs
• PBGC premium payments
• PBGC deadlines that are based on the Form 5500 deadline
• Single Employer Plan Termination Forms 500 and 501

Additional Resources

For any questions related to IRS deadlines and other disaster-related issues, the IRS has a toll-free number at 866-562-5227. For PBGC disaster-related questions, call 800-736-2444 ext. 4136.