Employee Benefits & ERISA

Holistically
practical

Overview

In a workplace facing dramatic changes including demographic shifts, global competition and ongoing regulatory updates, employers face increasing pressure against their benefit programs. Businesses require practical and solutions-driven counsel who understand how to effectively craft benefits packages that keep employee satisfaction high while minimizing liabilities, costs and legal challenges.

Our Employee Benefits & ERISA Practice provides comprehensive counsel on all types of welfare and pension benefits issues. Understanding the intricacies of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is a hallmark of our team. We help clients attract and retain top talent with appropriately drafted benefit plans, navigate clients through complex benefit and compensation rules, and provide practical solutions to resolve employee and regulatory disputes. Clients gain substantially from our regional footprint and thought leadership in this area.

The firm’s qualified retirement plan services include plan design and implementation, administration, monitoring compliance with reporting and disclosure requirements, and remediation of plan qualification defects through the Internal Revenue Service voluntary correction program. We serve clients extensively in various types of qualified plans including 401(k) plans, profit sharing plans, money purchase plans, 403(b) plans and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), including the financing and business succession planning opportunities associated with implementing a leveraged ESOP.

We also partner with our clients on design and implementation of non-qualified deferred compensation plans, and we monitor compliance with the requirements of Section 409A. In addition, our employment attorneys routinely counsel clients in HIPAA and COBRA compliance matters, as well as ERISA disputes involving pension and welfare benefit plans.

Experience

  • Designed an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that allowed owners of a successful closely held corporation to diversify their net worth by selling shares in a tax deferred transaction financed by a brokerage firm. As a result, the owners were able to purchase a portfolio of investment securities.

Certified Mediators

Chambers USA Employment Law