Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

Overview

The Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group is part of Eckert Seamans’ Tax, Estates & Employee Benefits Group.  Our practitioners help guide employers and other stakeholders through the diverse range of laws and regulations that govern employee benefits, executive compensation, and related areas. Consistent with the firm’s principles, the attorneys in our practice group strive to simplify issues, provide innovative solutions, and offer practical, understandable advice.

Our team partners with its clients to meet its unique needs. We represent clients at every level, ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations, banks, trustees, insurers, multiemployer funds, and governmental and tax-exempt employers. We understand our clients’ businesses and can offer assistance that is relevant to its particular industry. For example, we regularly assist clients in the retail, healthcare, manufacturing, energy, pharmaceutical, educational, and hospitality industries.

Experience

Employee Benefits and ERISA Counseling. Our attorneys work closely with our clients’ human resources professionals and in-house counsel, advising on special projects and day-to-day matters involving plan administration and legal compliance, including Internal Revenue Code, FMLA, Affordable Care Act, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance. Our experience ranges from qualified retirement plans to health and welfare and retiree medical benefits.

Fiduciary Counseling. Our team members serve as outside benefits counsel to fiduciary committees. We attend committee meetings and provide insight, advice, and training on relevant topics including investments and fees. We design and tailor fiduciary compliance programs to meet the needs of our clients.

Investigations and Audits. We represent clients in matters involving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Department of Labor (DOL), Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on issues ranging from audits, voluntary corrections under the IRS and DOL correction programs, reportable events and PBGC liability issues, and HIPAA compliance.

Benefit Aspects of Corporate Transactions. We have significant merger and acquisition experience and have played a major role in many high-profile transactions. We advise and counsel on the executive compensation and employee benefit aspects of all types of corporate transactions, including allocation of pension and retiree medical assets and liabilities and post-closing matters related to the integration of new benefit platforms.

Executive Compensation. We regularly counsel employers on executive compensation matters, focusing on plan design and implementation, Internal Revenue Code Section 409A compliance, employment, retention, and severance agreements, supplemental executive retirement plans (SERP), and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) compliance (e.g., Sarbanes-Oxley, disclosure, registration requirements, etc.).

ERISA & Benefits Litigation. Eckert Seamans litigators and employee benefits attorneys work in close collaboration, resulting in a team that has been successful in both resolving difficult litigation and avoiding it through proactive client counseling.

News & Insights

Publications:

ERISA's impact on data breach lawsuits

Honeywell Lawsuit Takes Aim at Biometric Screenings

Legal Updates:

The ERISA Express - April 4, 2023

Ten Recent Updates for Self-Insured Health Plans

Key Takeaways for Employers: The ARPA’s Expanded Sick/Family Medical Leave and COBRA Benefits

U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Contraceptive Mandate

IRS Provides Guidance Regarding 2020 Required Minimum Distributions

IRS Offers Relief to Cafeteria Plan Sponsors During the Pandemic

DOL and IRS Announce Disaster Relief Related to Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Benefits Alert - Summary of Important Elements of the SECURE ACT Legislation

Changes in 2020 Annual Retirement and Related Benefits

Employee Benefits Alert: Changes in 2017 Annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits

Changes in 2016 Annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits

Employee Benefits Alert: Affordable Care Act -- Embedded Individual Out of Pocket Maximum Applies in 2016

Employee Benefits Alert: New Health Care Reporting Requirements Require Monthly Tracking in 2015

Employee Benefits Alert: EEOC Takes Aim at Biometric Screenings

Employee Benefits Alert: Changes in 2015 Annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits

Employee Benefits Alert: Changes in 2014 annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits

Employee Benefits Alert: Notice of Exchange Guidelines

Employee Benefits Alert: Final Comparative Effectiveness Research Fee Rule

Employee Benefits Alert - Updated: Employers Beware -- Health Care Reform's Transitional Reinsurance Program Could Add Big Costs

Employee Benefits Alert: Changes in 2013 Annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits

Employee Benefits Alert: PPACA Provisions Impacting Employee Benefit Plans or Payroll in 2013

Employee Benefits Alert: A Perfect Storm -- Fee Disclosure Regulations and Tussey V. ABB, INC.

Employee Benefits Alert: IRS Form 8955-SSA

Employee Benefits Alert: Changes in 2012 Annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits

Employee Benefits Alert: Health Care Reform’s Form W-2 Reporting Guidance

Legal Update: Summer 2011

Employee Benefits Alert: Fiduciary Considerations for Plans When Selecting Recordkeepers

Employee Benefits Alert: Deadline Looming for Welfare/Cafeteria Plan Amendments

Employee Benefits Alert: No Changes in 2011 Annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits

Employee Benefits Alert: Cobra Subsidy Extended

Changes in 2019 Annual Retirement and Related Benefit Limits

News:

Best Law Firms 2019: U.S. News – Best Lawyers again ranks Eckert Seamans among the nation’s top law firms

Eckert Seamans announces attorney promotions for 2017