New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration recently announced they have entered into an agreement to share information and work cooperatively to address violations of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act and New York laws applicable to employer health benefit plans. This unique agreement increases the regulatory and prosecutorial reach of two already powerful agencies with potentially significant implications for employers, plan fiduciaries, health insurers, third-party health benefit administrators and their vendors.
While the DOL has previously entered into agreements with state attorneys general to address specific issues implicating both state and federal law, this agreement is unique in that it is open-ended and broadly focused on an entire industry. The DOL-NYAG agreement states that the agencies will share “information on a continuing basis regarding particular insurers, fiduciaries, service providers, and other entities and individuals involved with employee benefit plans covered by ERISA, or other applicable federal or state law.”