WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to affirm a lower court’s decision dismissing a lawsuit contending that Intel Corp. acted imprudently by investing its 401(k) plan funds in “non-traditional assets.”In the amicus brief, the department supported the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Anderson v. Intel Corporation Investment Policy Committee that upheld a lower court’s dismissal of claims that Intel acted imprudently by investing its retirement plan’s assets in allegedly risky hedge funds and private equity.This amicus brief is part of the department’s ongoing effort to provide regulatory clarity to help innovative and conscientious retirement plan sponsors.The department argued in the brief that contrary to the plaintiffs’ claims, Intel diversified its retirement plan investment funds into these assets to make their employees’ retirement income safer during market downturns, and the investment strategy the plaintiffs seek would force Intel to make significantly riskier investments for superficially higher returns.The brief clarified that to state a claim that a retirement plan’s investments were selected imprudently based on their underperformance under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, plaintiffs need to show that the investments performed poorly in comparison to a “meaningful benchmark” investment with similar goals and strategies. According to the brief, the plaintiffs in this case failed to plead this required context.The department has primary authority to interpret and enforce provisions of Title I of ERISA to ensure fair and impartial administration and compliance with its requirements. In the department’s view, ERISA is a law of process, not results. Thus, simply alleging an investment is underperforming alone does not necessarily suggest that the retirement plan that selected it acted imprudently. Instead, the brief asserts, an investment’s performance must be measured against a “meaningful benchmark” to survive a motion to dismiss.This brief is one in a series filed by the Department of Labor focused on ending the overuse of litigation against ERISA retirement plans and those who manage them. The brief reinforces that American companies have discretion to prioritize their employees’ long-term security in retirement over short-term gain in selecting investments for plan participants. Read the department’s amicus brief in Anderson v. Intel Corporation Investment Policy Committee.