Preston Rutledge, the head of EBSA (Photo: Shawn T. Moore/DOL)
Preston Rutledge, assistant secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, will leave his post at the end of May. As head of EBSA, Rutledge has been charged with spearheading Labor's new fiduciary rule to align with the Securities and Exchange Commission's Regulation Best Interest.
As of Friday, that rule had yet to land at the Office of Management and Budget for review.
Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a Friday statement that Rutledge "brought greater security to employees' retirement and health care plans, and helped small businesses extend health care and retirement benefits to their workers."
Rutledge's two-and-a-half years at Labor "are a fitting capstone on an exceptional 25 years in government service. We will miss his counsel, and wish him all the best," Scalia said.
Brad Campbell, former head of EBSA who's now a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath, told ThinkAdvisor on Friday that while Rutledge's departure won't result "in any additional delay to current outstanding projects at EBSA, given the strength of his deputy, Jeanne Wilson, and the importance of the agency's mission to current events," Labor's fiduciary rule reboot has been pushed to the back burner.
"Reproposing the fiduciary rule is not at the top of the Department's agenda," Campbell said. "How far down it has slipped only time and publication of the spring regulatory agenda will tell."
Moving the final electronic disclosure rule "ahead of the proposed fiduciary rule" makes sense, Campbell added. "That final rule will likely be completed in time to become a lasting regulation even if President Trump does not win reelection, while the proposed fiduciary rule likely will be only partway through the regulatory process by the end of the year."
Susan Neely, president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers, added in a statement that Rutledge "was a champion of what became the Secure Act from start to finish — first as a legislative architect in the Senate, and then at EBSA."
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, pressed Rutledge in early April to exercise Labor's new authority provided under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to extend filing deadlines for certain notice and disclosure requirements imposed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
