The Department of Labor is facing another legal challenge to its Retirement Security Rule passed last month. Nine insurance trade associations filed a lawsuit last week against the department seeking to overturn the fiduciary rule that they say will limit consumer choice of financial professionals and access to retirement products.

Plaintiffs include The American Council on Life Insurers, the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, the Insured Retirement Institute and the National Association for Fixed Annuities. In a group statement, the associations said the legal action came after careful deliberation on what is in the best interest of retirement savers. The 2024 version of the fiduciary rule suffers the same legal defects as the department's 2016 fiduciary rule because it exceeds the department's authority, is arbitrary and capricious, and is unconstitutional, they said.

"The DOL's biggest failing is its inability to learn from past mistakes," the statement said. "Despite sound evidence of its harmful effects, strong objections from Members of Congress and opposition voiced in thousands of consumer comments, the DOL chose to advance a repackaged version of its ill-advised 2016 regulation," the statement said. "Before it was struck down by the Fifth Circuit, the 2016 regulation resulted in more than 10 million American workers' accounts with $900 billion in savings losing access to professional financial guidance."