A little more than a month again on these pages we introduced the tale of NYC Comptroller John Liu and his high-profile public campaign against a certain large company recently accused of bribing foreign officials. Since then, at least one other state's retirement plan trustee has jumped on the bandwagon.
This begs the question: Should ERISA trustees do the same? More specifically, when does shareholder activism cross the line and constitute a breach of one's fiduciary duty to act solely for the benefit of the beneficiaries? Without getting into the minutia of ERISA (those interested should check out "Is Proxy Voting a Conflict-of-Interest Trap for the ERISA Fiduciary?"), let's review some of the general views on this issue
First, state retirement plans, like all government plans (and those of church associations, too), are not governed by ERISA. So Liu and his counterpart may not have the same stern legal obligation as do fiduciaries operating under ERISA. That itself should make ERISA trustees think twice before following Liu's footsteps. So what, if any, guidelines does Liu operate under when it comes to exercising his fiduciary duty as plan trustee?
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Critical BenefitsPRO information including cutting edge post-reform success strategies, access to educational webcasts and videos, resources from industry leaders, and informative Newsletters.
- Exclusive discounts on ALM, BenefitsPRO magazine and BenefitsPRO.com events
- Access to other award-winning ALM websites including ThinkAdvisor.com and Law.com
Already have an account? Sign In
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
