Preston Rutledge, the head of EBSA (Photo: Shawn T. Moore/DOL)
Lawmakers are urging the Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration, the division responsible for crafting the forthcoming Labor fiduciary rule, to delay a reorganization slated to take effect Oct. 1.
According to a Aug. 27 letter sent to EBSA employees by the unit's head, Preston Rutledge, the move is an expansion and reorganization of EBSA's leadership structure. "The new structure will provide expanded opportunity for career advancement, give the Regional Offices a greater voice in the National Office, and help ensure that enforcement activities are consistent nationwide," Rutledge wrote.
In a Sept. 22 letter to Rutledge, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., chairman of the House Committee on Education and Labor, asked Rutledge to delay the reorganization and to explain the rationale for the move.
"The proposed reorganization appears to be a meaningful structural change from the status quo, shifting authorities to EBSA's politically appointed deputy and creating a new director position to oversee regional offices," the lawmakers wrote.
