Title 29 — LaborRelease 119-73
§1111 Persons prohibited from holding certain positions
Title 29 › Chapter CHAPTER 18— - EMPLOYEE RETIREMENT INCOME SECURITY PROGRAM › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEE BENEFIT RIGHTS › Subtitle Subtitle B— - Regulatory Provisions › Part part 4— - fiduciary responsibility › § 1111
Summary
People convicted and jailed for certain serious crimes cannot work for or represent employee benefit plans in many roles. They must not serve as officers, trustees, fiduciaries, custodians, lawyers, agents, employees, consultants, advisers, or in any job that makes decisions about or controls the plan’s money or property. The rule covers a long list of crimes, such as robbery, bribery, extortion, embezzlement, fraud, grand larceny, burglary, arson, murder, rape, kidnapping, perjury, assault with intent to kill, major drug felonies, various federal offenses and labor-law crimes, crimes that misuse a labor or benefit position, and attempts or conspiracies to commit those crimes. Intentionally breaking this rule can bring a fine up to $10,000, up to five years in prison, or both. “Convicted” counts from the trial court’s judgment date even if the case is on appeal. A “consultant” is anyone paid to advise or help set up or run a plan. Time on parole or supervised release does not count as time in prison.
Full Legal Text
Title 29, §1111
Labor — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)No person who has been convicted of, or has been imprisoned as a result of his conviction of, robbery, bribery, extortion, embezzlement, fraud, grand larceny, burglary, arson, a felony violation of Federal or State law involving substances defined in section 802(6) of title 21, murder, rape, kidnaping, perjury, assault with intent to kill, any crime described in section 80a–9(a)(1) of title 15, a violation of any provision of this chapter, a violation of section 186 of this title, a violation of chapter 63 of title 18, a violation of section 874, 1027, 1503, 1505, 1506, 1510, 1951, or 1954 of title 18, a violation of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 401), any felony involving abuse or misuse of such person’s position or employment in a labor organization or employee benefit plan to seek or obtain an illegal gain at the expense of the members of the labor organization or the beneficiaries of the employee benefit plan, or conspiracy to commit any such crimes or attempt to commit any such crimes, or a crime in which any of the foregoing crimes is an element, shall serve or be permitted to serve—
(1)as an administrator, fiduciary, officer, trustee, custodian, counsel, agent, employee, or representative in any capacity of any employee benefit plan,
(2)as a consultant or adviser to an employee benefit plan, including but not limited to any entity whose activities are in whole or substantial part devoted to providing goods or services to any employee benefit plan, or
(3)in any capacity that involves decisionmaking authority or custody or control of the moneys, funds, assets, or property of any employee benefit plan,
(b)Any person who intentionally violates this section shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.
(c)For the purpose of this section—
(1)A person shall be deemed to have been “convicted” and under the disability of “conviction” from the date of the judgment of the trial court, regardless of whether that judgment remains under appeal.
(2)The term “consultant” means any person who, for compensation, advises, or represents an employee benefit plan or who provides other assistance to such plan, concerning the establishment or operation of such plan.
(3)A period of parole or supervised release shall not be considered as part of a period of imprisonment.
(d)Whenever any person—
(1)by operation of this section, has been barred from office or other position in an employee benefit plan as a result of a conviction, and
(2)has filed an appeal of that conviction,
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 93–406, known as the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Titles I, III, and IV of such Act are classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 1001 of this title and Tables. The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, referred to in subsec. (a), is Pub. L. 86–257, Sept. 14, 1959, 73 Stat. 519, which is classified principally to chapter 11 (§ 401 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see
Short Title
note set out under section 401 of this title, and Tables.
Amendments
1987—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100–182, in concluding provisions, substituted “if the offense is a Federal offense, the sentencing judge or, if the offense is a State or local offense, the United States district court for the district in which the offense was committed, pursuant to sentencing guidelines and policy statements under section 994(a) of title 28,” for “the United States Parole Commission”, “court shall” for “Commission shall”, “court’s” for “Commission’s”, “such court” for “such Parole Commission”, and “a hearing” for “an administrative hearing”. 1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–473, § 229, which directed substitution of “if the offense is a Federal offense, the sentencing judge or, if the offense is a State or local offense, on motion of the United States Department of Justice, the district court of the United States for the district in which the offense was committed, pursuant to sentencing guidelines and policy statements issued pursuant to section 994(a) of title 28,” for “the Board of Parole of the United States Justice Department”, “court” and “court’s” for “Board” and “Board’s”, respectively, and “a” for “an administrative”, was (except for the last substitution) incapable of execution in view of the previous amendment by section 802 of Pub. L. 98–473 which became effective prior to the
Effective Date
of the amendment by section 229. See note below. Pub. L. 98–473, § 802(a), in amending provisions after “the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (29 U.S.C. 401),” generally, inserted provisions relating to abuse or misuse of employment in a labor organization or employee benefit plan, in cl. (1) substituted “employee, or representative in any capacity” for “or employee”, in cl. (2) substituted “consultant or adviser to an” for “consultant to any”, added cl. (3), substituted “the period of thirteen years” for “five years”, “unless the sentencing court on the motion of the person convicted sets a lesser period of at least three years after such conviction or after the end of such imprisonment, whichever is later, or unless prior to the end of such period,” for “unless prior to the end of such five-year period,”, in cl. (B) substituted “the United States Parole Commission” for “the Board of Parole of the United States Department of Justice” and “paragraphs (1) through (3)” for “paragraph (1) or (2)”, and in provisions following cl. (B) substituted “Commission” and “Commission’s” for “Board” and “Board’s”, respectively, inserted provision of notice to the Secretary of Labor, and substituted “hire, retain, employ, or otherwise place any other person to serve in any capacity” for “permit any other person to serve in any capacity referred to in paragraph (1) or (2)” and “Parole Commission” for “Board of Parole”. Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–473, § 802(b), substituted “five years” for “one year”. Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 98–473, § 802(c), substituted “, regardless of whether that judgment remains under appeal” for “or the date of the final sustaining of such judgment on appeal, whichever is the later event”. Subsec. (c)(3). Pub. L. 98–473, § 230, inserted “or supervised release” after “parole”. Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 98–473, § 802(d), added subsec. (d).
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1987 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 100–182 applicable with respect to offenses committed after Dec. 7, 1987, see section 26 of Pub. L. 100–182, set out as a note under section 3006A of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.
Effective Date
of 1984 Amendment
Amendments
by section 229 and 230 of Pub. L. 98–473 effective Nov. 1, 1987, and applicable only to offenses committed after the taking effect of such
Amendments
, see section 235(a)(1) of Pub. L. 98–473, set out as an
Effective Date
note under section 3551 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure. Amendment by section 802 of Pub. L. 98–473 effective with respect to any judgment of conviction entered by the trial court after Oct. 12, 1984, except as otherwise provided, see section 804 of Pub. L. 98–473, set out as a note under section 504 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
29 U.S.C. § 1111
Title 29 — Labor
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73