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
Summary of Important Elements of the SECURE 2.0 Act Legislation
Ten Recent Updates for Self-Insured Health Plans
The DOL Warns Fiduciaries About Crypto
Health Plans Required to Cover Costs of Over-the-Counter COVID-19 Tests Beginning January 15, 2022
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
CARES Act: Impact on Employer Sponsored Retirement and Welfare Plans
Employee Benefits Alert - Summary of Important Elements of the SECURE ACT Legislation
Changes in 2020 Annual Retirement and Related Benefits
RELIEF FOR VICTIMS OF HURRICANE HARVEY
Employee Benefits Alert: Changes in 2017 Annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits
Employee Benefits Alert: Charlie Brown Participants
Opt-Out Payments and Flex Credits Impact Affordability Under ACA
Changes in 2016 Annual Retirement Benefit and Related Limits
Employee Benefits Alert: Affordable Care Act Update -- Health Care Reporting for Employers
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: 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
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