Image of a gavel on an open book and the words Fiduciary Rule, along with the logo of the US Dept. of Labor
The Labor Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration has decided not to pursue its defense of the Biden-era fiduciary rule.
The 2024 DOL fiduciary rule was previously stayed by two federal district courts in challenges brought by insurance industry groups, which stopped the rule from taking effect.
The two cases applied only to the halt, not to the rule itself, and were consolidated in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
DOL had requested multiple extensions throughout 2025. On Monday, Labor filed a motion to dismiss its appeal of those cases.
New Fiduciary Rule
Labor plans to issue a fiduciary rule in May 2026, according to its regulatory flexibility agenda.
Retirement planning officials predict Daniel Aronowitz, who was confirmed by the Senate in mid-September to head Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, may help write a new rule to address fiduciary advice regarding rollovers.
Lisa Gomez, former head of EBSA, said on LinkedIn that she's "Disappointed though not at all surprised" that Labor is abandoning its appeal.
"I would have liked to see the Court of Appeals and possibly the Supreme Court take a deeper dive into the rule," Gomez said, adding that she remains "concerned, as we said in the rule, that while individual retirement investors who are being provided with more and more control and responsibility over how to invest their retirement savings (which should be a good thing), and as products become more complicated, we are not doing our collective best to make sure that we are supporting, empowering and educating those investors."
She added: "We are not doing our collective best to ensure that the professionals who retirement investors have trust and confidence in, whether the individual investors are making decisions about long-term investment strategy or what to do in a one-time rollover, are acting in their best interests."
The fiduciary rule "saga has gone on for far too long without resolution, and the continued uncertainty doesn't help anyone," Gomez continued.
"The amount of work that went into each of the exercises in the rulemaking process is extraordinary. The Department says it is going to take another swing at it. I am interested to see what they will do, but rule or no rule, we need to work together to find a solution that everyone can accept and move on with."
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