REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
- Assists clients in understanding their obligations and avoiding costly penalties through guidance and interpretation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
- Represents clients in connection with establishment, qualification and consultation regarding all types of employee benefit plans, including 401(k), employee stock ownership plans, defined benefit plans, and nonqualified deferred compensation.
- Represents clients in connection with all types of employee benefit compliance issues and governmental and private dispute resolution.
- Represents clients in all types of ERISA litigation.
- Represents clients in connection with establishment, consultation, and termination of executive compensation.
- Represents clients in connection with legal issues affecting medical and other welfare benefits.
- Counsels clients regarding benefits issues in mergers and acquisitions.
- Counsels fiduciaries in connection with ERISA obligations.
- Represents clients in connection with HIPAA privacy and data security compliance.
- Provides counsel to clients with regard to distribution planning in connection with individual retirement accounts and qualified plan assets.
- Experience in handling government audits.
- Represents businesses of all sizes, fiduciaries, insurers and financial providers in connection with all types of ERISA issues on a regular basis.
- Represents clients in connection with litigation brought by governmental entities and employers and fiduciaries in connection with all types of ERISA litigation, including routine claims for benefits, breach of fiduciary duty claims, wrongful termination of employment for purposes of denying employee benefits (510 claims), COBRA disputes and defending employers against multiemployer benefit plan claims.
- Extensive experience regarding virtually all aspects of employee benefits and ERISA, including counseling clients with respect to the design and establishment, maintenance, modification, merger, spin-off and termination of all types of employee pension and welfare benefit plans, including profit-sharing, 401(k) and pension plans, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), 403(b) annuities, cafeteria plans, self-insured medical plans and medical reimbursement programs, disability plans and voluntary employee beneficiary associations (VEBAs); drafting of governing and support documents and administrative forms; preparation of appropriate filings with governmental agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Department of Labor and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, relating to such matters as plan qualification, tax-exempt status, plan mergers and plan termination; advising with respect to operational and administrative issues relating to such matters as nondiscrimination testing, anti-cutback issues, plan distributions, participant loans, investment direction, qualified domestic relations orders, prohibited transactions, fiduciary responsibility, and COBRA and HIPAA compliance; analysis of controlled group and affiliated service group status; and representing clients in audit controversies with the Internal Revenue Service and U. S. Department of Labor.
- Assists clients in obtaining Employee Plan Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) Compliance Statements and in seeking private letter rulings, advisory opinions, and prohibited transaction exemptions with respect to proposed transactions.
- Past client representations include: assisting state-wide nursing home organization in obtaining retroactive tax exemption for health plan VEBA; assisting Fortune 500 company with HIPAA compliance; assisting publicly traded entity with all retirement plan issues, including employer stock held in 401(k) plan; assisting insurers and self-insured employees in connection with health and welfare disability claims, defending service providers in breach of fiduciary duty claims, defending insurers and self-insured employers in welfare benefit claims, defending administrators in COBRA disputes and defending employers in ERISA 510 claims.