Capital & Main interviews Jeff Hahn about staffing cuts weakening DOL’s benefits watchdog

Stris & Maher partner Jeff Hahn was featured in a recent Capital & Main article examining how staffing cuts and shifting enforcement priorities at the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) are reducing oversight of workers’ retirement and health benefits.

The article, titled “Trump Cuts Quietly Gutted a Health Plan and Retirement Watchdog,” reports that EBSA—which oversees $12 trillion in retirement assets and 2.8 million health plans covering more than 150 million workers and retirees—has lost more than a quarter of its staff since 2024, with investigative and enforcement roles hit hardest. Former officials say the cuts, combined with new leadership drawn from the industry EBSA regulates, are weakening the agency’s ability to hold plan sponsors accountable.

According to the article, EBSA’s investigations have historically recovered hundreds of millions of dollars annually for workers and have prompted broader industry-wide changes to plan practices. Hahn, who previously litigated ERISA cases in the Labor Department’s Office of the Solicitor General, told Capital & Main that investigations are “the lifeblood of EBSA’s mission” and that even a single case can lead to change across an entire industry.

To read the full Capital & Main article, click here.