- DOL/EBSA Advance Final Rule on Alternative Assets in 401(k)s
- EEOC Poised to Modify Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
- Trump Nominates Zandi to Fill Open Seat on EEOC
- DOJ Notice Pushes English-Only Communications, Operations
- Proposal Sets Criteria for Workers Seeking Unemployment Benefits
DOL/EBSA Advance Final Rule on Alternative Assets in 401(k)s
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and its Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) on Thursday, Nov. 5, submitted their final rule governing the inclusion of alternative investments in 401(k) plans to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for procedural clearance. The OMB review process typically takes 60 to 90 days. Once cleared, the rule will be published in the Federal Register.
The rule, titled “Fiduciary Duties in Selecting Designated Investment Alternatives,” establishes a legal safe harbor for retirement plan fiduciaries who include alternative assets in participant-directed defined contribution (DC) plans. Covered asset classes include:
- Private equity and credit;
- Real estate;
- Digital assets (e.g., cryptocurrency);
- Commodities (e.g., precious metals such as gold);
- Infrastructure; and,
- Lifetime income strategies (e.g., longevity risk-sharing pools).
Originally proposed in March 2026 to implement President Donald Trump’s August 2025 Executive Order (EO) 14330 (“Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401[k] Investors”), the regulation aims to reduce litigation risks under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) that have discouraged employers from offering private-market funds in workplace retirement plans.
While DC plan managers have had the ability to consider alternative assets, a minority have actively pushed such options given:
- Their greater perceived investor risk; and,
- Past compliance guidance (i.e., a 2022 DOL/EBSA release) that directed plan fiduciaries to exercise “extreme care” before considering a cryptocurrency option for their 401(k) plan’s investment menu. (The Trump administration rescinded that guidance in May 2025).
Under the final rule’s framework, fiduciaries receive legal deference regarding their “duty of prudence” if they follow an objective, asset-neutral evaluation process. Specifically, plan managers must weigh six core factors when selecting investments:
- Performance and historical returns;
- Fees and overall expense structures;
- Liquidity constraints;
- Valuation methodologies;
- Performance benchmarks; and,
- Underlying asset complexity.
EEOC Poised to Modify Pregnant Workers Fairness Act
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently submitted a regulatory filing to the OMB that briefly lays out its intent to revise its regulations for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) before the end of November.
While the agency didn’t release specific text on a proposed rule, the regulatory agenda entry mentions a goal of revising the interpretation of the statutory phrase “pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.”
The PWFA, which was passed in 2022 and made effective in 2023, requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for known limitations related to pregnancy and childbirth, unless it causes undue hardship. The 2024 implementing regulations broadly defined “related medical conditions,” and it has been interpreted to include issues like fertility treatments, menopause, miscarriage and abortion.
The New York Times and other news outlets have reported that the upcoming proposal may remove explicit protections for conditions outside of active pregnancy and introduce broader religious exemptions, though core pregnancy protections are expected to remain. The 2024 regulations have faced legal challenges, and a May 2025 federal court ruling (in the case State of Louisiana v. EEOC) vacated the mandate to accommodate elective abortions.
The National Women’s Law Center expressed concern with the EEOC’s plans, stating in a press release that the agency is “quietly moving to undermine” the PWFA.
“Congress passed [the PWFA] so that workers would not have to choose between protecting their health and keeping their jobs,” said Gaylynn Burroughs, the nonprofit advocacy group’s vice president for education and workplace justice. “The federal government should be doing everything in its power to make that promise a reality for all workers. Instead, the EEOC is once again planning to upend rules that workers and employers have relied on, sowing confusion and making it harder for workers to get the accommodations they need to continue working safely. … [No] matter what the EEOC does, it cannot change the law. Workers still have the right to accommodations for the full range of needs they may face related to pregnancy.”
Trump Nominates DOJ’s Zandi to Fill Open Seat on EEOC
President Trump on Monday, Nov. 9, nominated Matthew Zandi, a top official in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, to fill the EEOC seat vacated by Trump’s 2025 ouster of Democratic commissioner Jocelyn Samuels.
If confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term (which would expire on July 1, 2031), Zandi would solidify a three-member Republican majority on the five-person agency through the first half of 2029, signaling the Trump administration’s continued push to reshape federal civil rights enforcement.
Current Republican EEOC members include:
- Chair Andrea Lucas, whose term runs until July 1, 2030; and,
- Commissioner Brittany Bull Panuccio, whose term runs until July 1, 2029.
Democrat Kalpana Kotagal holds the other filled commission seat. The seat not earmarked for Zandi was vacated by Trump’s 2025 ouster of Democratic-appointed chair Charlotte Burrows.
Zandi joined the Department of Justice (DOJ) in April 2025 under then-Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. During their tenure, the department prioritized:
- Challenges to corporate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs;
- Investigations into alleged anti-white discrimination; and,
- Probes into campus antisemitism and voter fraud.
The nomination faces pushback from Democrats and civil rights advocates. During a Senate committee hearing, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) criticized the pick as an “overtly partisan decision” that breaks from the custom of pairing bipartisan nominees. The National Women’s Law Center also panned the selection, citing Zandi’s role in targeting corporate DEI programs. Conversely, Senate Republicans like Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) defended the administration’s direction, arguing the EEOC is delivering “even-handed enforcement.”
DOJ Notice Pushes English-Only Communications, Operations
The DOJ filed a notice in the Federal Register that directs federal agencies to conduct official business and public communications solely in English unless multilingual assistance is legally required or mission critical. The notice was placed on public inspection on Tuesday, Nov. 10, and published on Friday, Nov. 12, which started a 60-day public comment period.
The move furthers President Trump’s EO 14224 (“Designating English as the Official Language of the United States”), issued on March 6, 2025, which established English as the official language of the executive branch and rescinded EO 13166 (“Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited English Proficiency”), which was signed by President Bill Clinton on Aug. 11, 2000.
The DOJ Federal Register notice included a memorandum from Attorney General Todd Blanche that stated, “Though not officially designated in the past, English has been our common language since before this nation’s founding. This fact is reflected in our nation’s governing documents, history and tradition, and daily interactions. Our shared national language has played an indispensable role in forming a cohesive society and ensuring consistency across government operations. EO 14224 designated English as the official language of the United States. This [notice] helps federal agencies implement EO 14224 by providing clear, practical guidelines on how to prioritize the English language in government operations.”
The memorandum laid out several operational rules:
- Agencies must prioritize English and conduct official business solely in English across official correspondence, regulations, policy statements, public notices, forms, applications, websites, digital services and outreach materials.
- Multilingual services are permitted only when required by federal statute or deemed strictly necessary to accomplish an agency’s core mission.
- Whenever an agency provides a mission-critical translation, it must include an explicit disclaimer stating English is the official language and the authoritative version of all federal information.
- With the repeal of Executive Order 13166, agencies are no longer required to maintain broad “limited English proficiency” access plans.
Proposal Sets Criteria for Workers Seeking Unemployment Benefits
The DOL’s Employment and Training Administration on Monday, Nov. 9, announced a proposed rule aimed at increasing “integrity and accountability” for Americans who apply for federal-state unemployment insurance by establishing a new minimum weekly work-search standard.
Under the proposal, benefit claimants would need to complete at least five qualifying work-search activities each week as well as report those activities before any unemployment payments are issued.
“The purpose of unemployment insurance is to provide temporary support while people proactively search for a new job or upskill to meet the needs of employers restoring critical supply chains,” Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling stated in a news release. “This proposed rule helps jobseekers find work faster and ensures efficient use of taxpayer resources while improving the overall integrity of our unemployment system.”
In addition to setting a weekly minimum, the proposal seeks to adjust how job searches are defined. Beyond traditional direct employer contacts, qualifying activities would include registration and ongoing contact with placement agencies and unions, provided those efforts are specific, identifiable and reasonably calculated to lead to reemployment.
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