With the April 30 deadline looming for the Labor Department to appeal the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling vacating Labor's fiduciary rule, the former head of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration is surmising that Labor will not appeal.
"While we don't officially know the DOL is not going to appeal," it looks as if the department will not, so the 5th Circuit ruling will go into effect on May 7 and vacate the rule, said Brad Campbell, former head of EBSA who's now a partner with Drinker Biddle and Reath in Washington, on a Thursday webcast by the law firm.
"With that opportunity, the SEC now no longer has to adjust itself to fit what DOL has already done. The SEC can now lead the way [with its standards of conduct proposal] and have DOL adjust itself to the SEC's rule."
Fred Reish, partner in Drinker Biddle & Reath's employee benefits and executive compensation practice group in Los Angeles, told ThinkAdvisor that "if it was an easy decision [to appeal], the DOL would have made the decision by now and would have announced it. As result, I see it as a toss-up, perhaps leaning towards not challenging the court's decision."
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit voted 2-1 on March 15 to vacate the Labor Department's fiduciary rule.
SEC's Conduct Rule 'Rushed'
The SEC voted Wednesday to put its 1,000-page standard of conduct proposal for brokers and advisors out for a 90-day public comment period.
