Services

Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice is comprehensive. In addition to traditional services related to various types of retirement, welfare and executive benefit programs, we provide many other services, including those related to the following:

• Creation, maintenance and termination of tax-qualified retirement plans, including 401(k) and pension plans
• Benefits and executive compensation issues in corporate transactions, including divestitures, acquisitions, mergers, tender offers and bankruptcy proceedings
• Executive compensation and incentive programs, including individual arrangements for taxable and tax-exempt organizations
• ERISA litigation
• Stock option plans, stock appreciation rights, phantom stock arrangements and other equity-based incentive compensation arrangements
• Health care cost containment options and implementation, including implementation of managed care procedures and negotiations with Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and network providers
• Change in control issues pertaining to executive retention, including golden parachutes, golden handcuff arrangements and other change in control compensation and severance arrangements
• Retirement plan documents that have been pre-approved by the IRS under its volume submitter and prototype programs
• Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), including S corporation ESOPs, the use of ESOPs in leveraged buyouts and as anti-takeover devices, and the representation of parties in ESOP loan transactions
• Cash balance and pension equity plans
• Financial institution representation as it relates to their role as trustee to employee benefit plans, including ESOPs
• Union negotiated multiemployer pension plans, withdrawal liability issues and jointly administered single employer pension plans
• Plan terminations and the reversion of pension plan assets
• Supplemental retirement and other non-qualified deferred compensation plans, including funding arrangements hrough insurance products and trusts for taxable and tax-exempt companies
• Non-employee director and consultant compensation arrangements
• Funded and unfunded health and welfare plans, including individual and group life insurance programs, self-funded and insured medical benefit plans and dependent care assistance arrangements, and the use of Section 501(c)(9) trusts and Section 125 cafeteria plans and cafeteria-style flexible benefit arrangements
• Retiree medical benefit programs
• Mandated welfare benefits, such as COBRA health care continuation, FMLA and maternity and paternity leaves of absence
• Counseling plan sponsors, plan administrators and plan trustees on ERISA fiduciary standards, reporting and disclosure requirements and ERISA prohibited transactions and trust investments, including company stock
• Investment management and consulting agreements
• Master and common trusts
• Federal and state agency reporting, including to the IRS, Department of Labor, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and Securities and Exchange Commission
• IRS and Department of Labor audits, including guidance for on-site investigations and written responses to agency positions
• Client representation before the Department of Labor, IRS, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and other federal regulatory agencies
• Early retirement and severance programs
• Voluntary corrective actions under regulatory relief programs
• Individuals' tax considerations pertaining to their employee benefits, including specific tax planning for distributions from plans and the establishment of IRAs