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Employee Benefits

The Employee Benefits Practice Group assists clients of all sizes in negotiating the technical requirements of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). These attorneys specialize in the design, implementation and administration of various types of employee benefit programs, such as defined benefit plans, profit sharing plans, 401(k) plans, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), employee stock purchase plans, executive compensation plans, group health plans, and cafeteria plans. Clients serviced by the Employee Benefits Practice range in size from sole proprietorships, partnerships, and professional corporations to large, publicly-held corporations.

Some of the services offered by the Employee Benefits Practice Group include:

Drafting benefit plan and trust documents to meet both the client's specific needs and the ever-changing requirements of ERISA and the Code;
Providing guidance on matters such as the deductibility of contributions to and the taxation of distributions from tax-qualified retirement plans;
Advising on employee communication matters for tax-qualified retirement plans, welfare plans (including group health, life, and disability), and fringe benefit plans (such as cafeteria plans, flexible spending accounts, and qualified transportation fringe benefit plans); and
Analyzing and addressing retirement plan and welfare plan issues that arise in connection with corporate mergers and acquisitions.

An integral part of the Employee Benefits Practice involves representing clients and their plans before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Labor, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, obtaining determinations from those regulatory agencies, and assisting with the many interpretive questions that inevitably arise in the course of employee benefit plan administration. The Employee Benefits attorneys have specific experience assisting clients with correcting retirement plan deficiencies through the IRS's Employee Plans Compliance Resolution Program.

An important aspect of most employers' benefit programs is the provision of group health coverage to employees. Attorneys in the Employee Benefits Practice Group advise clients with respect to all aspects of implementing and administering group health plans, with the combined goal of protecting the client from unwanted liability and meeting its employee benefit needs. Other services include the negotiation of contracts with insurance companies (including excess loss contracts and administrative service agreements for self-insured plans), design and drafting of plan documents, and compliance with applicable state and federal laws affecting group health plans, including ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA, and the Mental Health Parity Act.

The attorneys in the Employee Benefits Practice Group have considerable knowledge in the area of nonqualified retirement plans and deferred compensation arrangements, qualified and nonqualified stock option plans, stock purchase plans, life and disability insurance programs, split dollar arrangements, and other types of benefits for both executives and rank-and-file employees.

Significant Group Accomplishments