Benefit plans can work for everybody — even employers.
Careful planning brings excellent rewards.
Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Employee Benefits & ERISA Group understands the enormous challenges employers face every day when it comes to compensation and benefit issues. Every employer wants to be fair; we also want to ensure that we're making wise investments in our employees. And we know that the many laws governing compensation and benefits can result in serious consequences if they're misunderstood.
Our group works with employers, financial institutions, insurance companies, investment advisors, tax-exempt organizations, trade associations, and individuals to manage this very complicated area of compliance. Our attorneys collaborate with in-house counsel, accountants, actuaries, and others to make sure each client's situation is handled in the best way possible. Specifically, we deal with legal, tax, and ERISA issues related to:
- Qualified tax-favored retirement plans (pension and 401K plans)
- Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
- Multiemployer pension plans
- 403(b) Plans
- Health and medical benefit plans (both self-insured and insured)
- Retiree medical benefits
- Life and disability plans
- Severance pay programs
- Cafeteria plans and flexible spending accounts
- Voluntary employees' beneficiary associations (VEBAs)
- Executive compensation and employment arrangements
- Nonqualified deferred compensation plans
- Equity-based compensation plans
- Long-term incentive plans
We advise clients on employee pension and welfare benefit plan issues related to mergers, acquisitions, and initial public offerings. We help with due diligence and strategies for plan mergers, spin-offs, terminations, distributions, transition planning, and employee relations issues. We also advise clients on individual retirement account matters and the growing role of qualified and nonqualified retirement plans in estate planning, including the taxation of distributions. Our legal advice covers tax, labor, corporate, securities, and business planning matters.
Title I
Our attorneys have a keen understaning of Title I of ERISA. Ongoing plan administration and plan investments are a few of the issues we deal with every day. We represent clients in administrative and enforcement proceedings involving the U.S. Department of Labor, and we pursue or defend actions involving claims for benefits or allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty.
Of course, not every matter that comes up in this area of the law is so complicated. We help clients with the many day-to-day administrative tasks of maintaining benefit plans, and we consult with clients on all sorts of issues—qualified domestic relations orders, qualified medical child support orders, domestic partners benefits issues, open enrollment, summary plan descriptions, and more.
Staying current every day
The legal landscape is always changing, and our group makes it a point to stay ahead of every new development. We're always ready to help clients understand and deal with the following:
- COBRA
- Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
- Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
- Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA)
- Newborns and Mothers Health Protection Act (NMHPA)
- Women's Cancer Rights Act (WCRA)
- Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA)
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
- Worker Adjustment Relocation and Notification Act (WARN)
- Securities Act and Securities Exchange Act
- Investment Company Act
- Commodity Exchange Act