Labor Department Repudiates Pro-Worker ERISA Brief in Yale Case

The US Labor Department sought to withdraw its support for Yale University employees in a retirement plan dispute, telling the Second Circuit it’s “reconsidered its position” on shifting legal burdens in ERISA cases.

The department asked the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit not to rely on its 2023 amicus brief backing a plaintiff-friendly standard for holding retirement plan fiduciaries liable for breaches of duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

That brief, filed during the Biden administration, argued that the Connecticut federal jury’s 2023 verdict largely favoring Yale incorrectly relied on a stricter standard allowing defendants ...