Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale has corrected a statement made by Larry Sanitoa in his letter to the media concerning a federal law known as ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
Sanitoa had said that the Retirement Fund is governed at the federal leve by ERISA which stipulates that 10% is a set standard for loans of asset funds.
The Attorney General pointed out however that ERISA specifically states that provisions of ERISA shall not apply to any employee benefit plan if such a plan is a government plan.
Talauega said the American Samoa Government Employees Retirement Fund is a governmental plan, owned and operated by an agency of the American Samoa Government.
“Therefore the ERISA law that Sanitoa cited does not apply to the American Samoa Government Employees Retirement Fund,” said the AG.
