Federal News Roundup for April 19, 2026

EBSA Changes Priorities to Focus on ‘True Bad Actors’

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) on Tuesday, April 14, announced an overhaul of its enforcement strategy. The update, formalized in Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-01, aims to:

Shift the federal agency’s focus toward “true bad actors” and egregious misconduct; and,
Pursue fair, rule-based treatment for the regulated community.

EBSA’s stated mission is to enforce laws tied to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), investigate violations, restore stolen/mismanaged assets, and provide compliance assistance to employers and workers.

The bulletin laid out four core principles that will guide future EBSA actions:

Focus on egregious conduct. Enforcement will prioritize the most severe violations and actions that cause significant harm to worker benefits.
No “regulation by enforcement.” EBSA intends to stop using enforcement to create new policies, favoring formal rulemaking and clear prior notice for the regulated community.
Elevate oversight of actions. All critical enforcement initiatives must now undergo review by senior agency officials to ensure consistency.
Timely response. The agency aims to improve enforcement process efficiency and responsiveness.

It also outlined some strategic shifts related to:

Fiduciary judgment. EBSA will move away from “second-guessing” the prudent discretionary decisions of fiduciaries.
Strict legal adherence. Enforcement actions must have a close nexus to the plain language of the law, official Department of Labor (DOL) guidance or established case law.
Investigation deadlines. For the first time, EBSA will establish time limits for investigations — typically 18 months for routine cases and 30 months for complex ones.

Guidance Doc Singles Out Proxy Advisors as Fiduciaries

Speaking of EBSA and fiduciaries … The agency on Thursday, April 15, issued guidance stating that proxy advisory firms commonly engage in business practices that meet the legal test for being investment advice fiduciaries.

Technical Release 2026-01 spelled out that proxy advisors regularly engage in conduct that makes them investment advice fiduciaries under the department’s long-standing five-part test. The document also clarifies that proxy advisors regularly fit the definition of functional fiduciaries under ERISA.

The DOL five-part test, reinstated in March 2026, defines an investment advice fiduciary under ERISA as a person who provides advice for compensation on a “regular basis” per a “mutual agreement” and that the advice serves as a “primary basis” for investment decisions, is “individualized,” and relates to selling or purchasing securities.

The EBSA guidance follows President Donald Trump’s Dec. 11, 2025, executive order (“Protecting American Investors from Foreign-Owned and Politically Motivated Proxy Advisors”), which singled out two foreign companies (Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis & Co.) that control more than 90% of the proxy advisory market.

At the President’s directive, the new EBSA document looks beyond the proxy advisors to consider when the actions of others (e.g., large asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, the overseers of the proxy “plumbing”) render them investment advice fiduciaries.

EEOC Points Out Successes in FY 2025 Recap

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on Monday, April 6, released its report on the agency’s fiscal-year 2025 performance, highlighting increased monetary recoveries and operational efficiency.

The agency, which oversees private-sector compliance of federal laws that prohibit employment discrimination, said it secured $660 million for 17,680 discrimination victims, marking its third-highest total monetary recovery in recent history. Out of that total, it recovered:

$528 million through its prelitigation enforcement process (i.e., mediation, conciliation and pre-cause determination settlements), the highest such recovery in the agency’s 60-year history and 12% higher than fiscal year 2024.
$27 million for 2,505 individuals because of litigation.
$104.6 million for 1,824 federal employees and applicants.

Regarding operational efficiency, the report stated the agency:

Responded to nearly 270,000 inquiries, an increase of nearly 9% from FY 2024.
Processed 88,201 new discrimination charges and resolved 90,743 charges, a 4% increase in resolutions compared to FY 2024.
Reduced the private-sector charge inventory by 4%.

Trump, Eyeing Republican Majority, Nominates Macy to NLRB

President Trump took two actions Monday, April 13, toward staffing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB):

Nominating James Macy, a DOL official and former management-side lawyer, as a board member with a term running through August 2030; and,
Renominating Democrat David Prouty for a second term (his current term expires Aug. 27, 2026).

Macy, who would replace former chair Marvin Kaplan (whose term expired Aug. 27, 2025) is currently the principal deputy administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. If he is confirmed by the Senate, the five-member board would have a 3-1 Republican majority (the seat of Gwynne Wilcox remains inactive following her contentious firing by Trump in January 2025). With that party makeup, the board is expected to overturn Biden-era rulings that favored union organizing and tighten rules on union recognition.

Without these confirmations, the board faces a potential quorum loss.

House Bill Aims to Establish Free Heart Disease Risk Tests

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Florida) on Tuesday, April 14, introduced House Bill 8260, legislation that would require fully insured group health insurance plans, self-insured employer plans, Medicare and Medicaid to cover tests for two heart disease risk factors without cost-sharing for individuals who are prone to cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States. Routine cholesterol tests often fail to detect elevated levels of lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and apolipoprotein B [ApoB], which are key indicators of heart disease risk. Approximately 1 in 5 Americans has elevated Lp(a), and elevated ApoB levels can more accurately predict cardiovascular risk than LDL cholesterol alone.

Heart disease disproportionately impacts Black and Hispanic communities, low-income families and other medically underserved populations. Structural barriers to care, limited access to preventive screening, higher rates of chronic stress, and long-standing health inequities have contributed to higher rates of cardiovascular complications and mortality in these communities.

Editor’s Note: Additional Content

For more information and resources related to this article, see the pages below, which offer quick access to all WorldatWork content on these topics: