Employee Benefits

Complying with the myriad of complex employee benefits rules can be mystifying. We are here to help.

UB Greensfelder’s employee benefits attorneys design benefits plans and executive compensation programs for a range of employers – from small businesses to large corporations, and taxable and tax-exempt organizations. For businesses seeking to attract and retain key employees, employee benefit plans must be competitive and may just be the tipping point during the hiring process.

How We Help

Our Employee Benefits Group has extensive experience designing and implementing qualified retirement plans, welfare benefits, and executive compensation arrangements. We also help clients with compliance issues involving these plans and arrangements. Among other things, we have specific experience with the following:

• Employee Benefit Plan Design and Compliance
  Qualified Retirement Plans. Organizations often need help designing, drafting, and working with all types of employee pension benefit plans, including profit sharing, 401(k), money purchase, defined benefit pension (including cash balance), and ESOPs. That can involve operational and administrative issues relating to matters such as non-discrimination testing, plan mergers, spin-offs and terminations, plan distributions, participant loans, contribution allocations and limitations, deduction issues, forfeiture allocations, amendment procedures, investment direction and policies, qualified domestic relations orders, plan investments in employer securities and employer real property, prohibited transactions, fiduciary responsibility issues, and more.

Welfare Plans. We have significant experience designing, drafting, and consulting with respect to all types of welfare benefit programs, including medical benefit plans, retiree medical plans, medical reimbursement plans, disability plans, group term life insurance, dependent care, cafeteria plans, voluntary employee beneficiary associations (VEBAs), and educational assistance programs. We assist employers and insurers with claims issues and compliance with the complex ERISA claims procedures, privacy rules under HIPAA, and continuation health coverage under COBRA.

Executive Compensation Arrangements. Many employers provide supplemental benefits for their executives in additional to traditional benefit plans. These can include non-qualified deferred compensation plans, stock options, warrants, stock appreciation rights, phantom stock plans, and fringe benefits, among others. These types of arrangements are subject to various complex rules under ERISA and the tax code.

• Employee Benefits Issues in Business Transactions. We assist clients with benefits issues arising in connection with purchases and sales of businesses and initial public offerings. Such assistance includes drafting, reviewing, and negotiating appropriate benefits representations and warranties and indemnifications in purchase and sales agreements. In connection with business acquisitions, we analyze the seller’s employee benefit plans, prepare tables comparing the seller’s programs with the buyer’s programs and outlining problem areas, and assist the client with the integration of employee benefit programs. We also analyze issues involved in buying and selling businesses from or to employee benefit plans.
• Audits. We advocate for clients if they face an audit or litigation. We represent clients in audit controversies with the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor, and assist them in seeking private letter rulings, advisory opinions, and prohibited transaction exemptions. We also have successfully represented clients in civil litigation involving these same agencies and against other civil litigants.