Data / Federal rules / 2024-08985
Definition of “Employer”-Association Health Plans
The Employee Benefits Security Administration published this final rule in the Federal Register on April 30, 2024. It took effect on July 1, 2024.
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What the agency says
This document rescinds the Department of Labor's (Department or DOL) 2018 rule entitled "Definition of Employer Under Section 3(5) of ERISA--Association Health Plans" (2018 AHP Rule). The 2018 AHP Rule established an alternative set of criteria from those set forth in the Department's pre-2018 AHP Rule (pre-rule) guidance for determining when a group or association of employers is acting "indirectly in the interest of an employer" under section 3(5) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) for purposes of establishing an association health plan (AHP) as a multiple employer group health plan. The 2018 AHP Rule was a significant departure from the Department's longstanding pre-rule guidance on the definition of "employer" under ERISA. This departure substantially weakened the Department's traditional criteria in a manner that would have enabled the creation of commercial AHPs functioning effectively as health insurance issuers. The Department now believes that the core provisions of the 2018 AHP Rule are, at a minimum, not consistent with the best reading of ERISA's statutory requirements governing group health plans.
Key facts
- Document number
- 2024-08985
- Type
- Final rule
- Action
- Final rule, rescission
- Agency
- Labor Department; Employee Benefits Security Administration
- Published
- April 30, 2024
- Takes effect
- July 1, 2024
- Dates
- Effective date: This rule is effective on July 1, 2024.
- Regulation ID (RIN)
- 1210-AC16
- Code of Federal Regulations
- 29 CFR 2510
- Topics
- Employee benefit plans; Pensions
- Significant
- Yes, under Executive Order 12866
- Pages
- 22
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| Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives 2026-06178 | Proposed rule | Mar 31 |
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Everything from the Employee Benefits Security Administration · Rules on employee benefit plans · Rules on pensions · Published in April 2024
Read from the Federal Register API, last updated 2026-10-23. The document on federalregister.gov is the official record; dates and dockets can change through later corrections. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.