Labor & Employment
Employee Benefits & ERISA
The employee benefits & ERISA attorneys at Roetzel assist employers in designing and implementing benefits strategies that comply with regulatory and statutory requirements while achieving their overall personnel, business and financial objectives.
We partner with actuaries, accountants and bank trustees on an ongoing basis to ensure that our clients receive responsive, practical and up-to-date technical information.
Our experience spans the full breadth of benefit plans and programs, including qualified and non-qualified retirement plans; health and welfare plans; 401(k) and profit-sharing plans; and fringe benefits programs for employers, plan sponsors, fiduciaries and administrators. We have helped small companies with fewer than ten workers, publicly traded companies with thousands of employees, and governmental entities of all sizes navigate the complex and technical tax and legal issues to ensure compliance with all applicable rules and regulations. Roetzel’s legal team has worked with our clients to resolve challenges and obtain favorable rulings from the IRS, the Department of Labor and other regulatory bodies.
Our team regularly counsels clients on the interrelationship of federal and state laws, and how this affects their benefit plans. In addition, we continually monitor regulatory developments to identify additional reporting and compliance requirements, as well as advantageous changes that lessen the financial and administrative burden of benefits programs and packages.
Roetzel’s employee benefits & ERISA attorneys, several of whom have earned advanced degrees and employee benefits certifications, work closely with attorneys in our labor and employment practice and tax practice to provide an integrated approach to plan design and administration. We partner with actuaries, accountants and bank trustees on an ongoing basis to ensure that our clients receive responsive, practical and up-to-date technical information. We regularly draw on the strong reputations and relationships we have built with the Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to bring our clients comprehensive employee benefits and ERISA representation.
Our Experience
- Counseled publicly traded companies in planning, drafting and implementing non-qualified deferred compensation plans
- Drafted 403(b) plans for governmental entities
- Represented private employers before the IRS regarding delinquent annual filings
- Successfully negotiated on behalf of the sponsor of a disqualified plan an agreement with the IRS to limit the negative tax consequences to the employer/plan sponsor and the plan participants
- Obtained favorable determination letters from the IRS for initial adoption of and amendments to retirement plans
- Obtained a summary judgment for the employer in an action brought by an early retiree for additional pension benefits under the employer-sponsored pension plan
- Received a favorable federal court decision in an action brought by a former participant alleging a misrepresentation of benefits
- Counsel large welfare benefit plans regarding internal claims and appeals and external review processes under health care reform
- Advise plan administrators regarding participant requests for review of adverse benefit determinations
- Successfully defended corporate fiduciaries against claims of breach of fiduciary duty due to improper investments and failure to follow plan documents
- Counsel and assist employers and plan sponsors in the correction of retirement plan errors using the IRS voluntary correction program
- Successfully assisted group health plans in securing payments of their subrogation claims
- Obtained a favorable federal court decision for a plan administrator in a case claiming the denial of benefits was arbitrary and capricious
- Counsel employers and plan sponsors on applicable health plan changes required by federal health care reform laws
- Successfully negotiated with the Department of Labor on behalf of several fiduciaries and plan administrators for a reduction of penalties and interest assessed for multiple prohibited transactions and claims of breach of fiduciary duty
- Successfully represented employers in arbitrations and litigation as to withdrawals from multiemployer pension plans
- Drafted tax-favored fringe benefit plans, including transportation, premium conversion and full flexible spending account plans, for numerous public and private employers, and counseled those employers as to the successful implementation of those plans
What We Do
- Qualified and non-qualified retirement plans
- 401(k) and profit-sharing plans
- Health and welfare plans
- Fringe benefit plans
- Claims administration issues
- Regulatory compliance
- Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
- Fiduciary responsibility counseling
- Multiemployer (Taft-Hartley) plans
- ERISA and employee benefits litigation