New DOL Fiduciary Rule Plan Coming Soon, Top Official Says

By Melanie Waddell

News May 11, 2023 at 01:40 PM

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Issuing a new fiduciary rule is a "huge priority" for the Labor Department, Lisa Gomez, assistant secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, said Thursday, noting that one should be released soon.

Speaking at the Employee Benefit Research Institute spring policy forum, held in Washington, Gomez said "things have changed so much in the retirement market and we are trying to acknowledge those changes, reflect how the system works best in this new world, reflecting on challenges there have been to the rule since 2016, and trying to come up with a proposal that will reflect all of that."

Moving forward with a new rule is something Labor "is very devoted to," Gomez said, and "hopefully we'll be able to have something soon on that."

Secure 2.0

Gomez noted that Labor is also working on a number of projects related to implementing the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (Secure) 2.0 Act. For example, the department is setting up a "lost and found" retirement plan participant database, "which is a tremendous undertaking for EBSA," Gomez said.

Labor is working with "stakeholders and other government agencies who've done similar things" to learn the best way to proceed, she said.

Another Secure 2.0 task has to do with retirement disclosures and notices. "There are a number of different provisions in Secure [2.0] that have to do with reviewing, analyzing and changing various types of notices," she said, "both in the defined benefit and defined contribution context."

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