|
Employment, Media, Education and Competition Law Section
Section Head: Michael McMenamin
 |
Employee Benefits Group |
Practice Group Chair: Russell C. Shaw
The Employee Benefits Group handles pension, profit sharing [including 401(k)], employee stock ownership (ESOP), employee stock bonus (ESBP), executive “top hat,” 403(b) annuity, 457 and welfare (health/life/disability/vacation) plans, individual retirement accounts (IRA’s and SEP’s), and “rabbi” and secular trusts for a large variety of corporate, institutional, governmental, and individual clients. This includes plan design, creation and amendment, and termination, as well as IRS and ERISA compliance and litigation, and handling governmental inquiries and audits by the IRS and the Department of Labor.
Our lawyers have received a favorable ruling from the IRS that allows the employees of a company within a group of related companies to take distributions from their 401k plan without violating the "same desk" rule; established a multi-employer individual account plan; represented a tax exempt entity in the spin-off of its employees’ pension benefits from a multiple employer pension plan to a single employer plan; handled an audit of a qualified plan that raised several complex issues including excess contributions and plan loans; assisted municipalities with issues that surrounded their Section 457 plans’ compliance with the new “in trust” rules; and revised corporate sponsored prototype plans to meet new federal legislation requirements.
Walter & Haverfield also has a litigation team to represent plans, corporations and their insurers in a variety of ERISA and non-ERISA cases concerning their employee benefits. Our litigation team has successfully defended our clients in actions which included claims of breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, self-dealing, denial of benefits and benefits discrimination.
Walter & Haverfield’s employee benefits practice ranges from major corporations to multi-employer pension plans to regional manufacturers and professional service corporations as well as their insurers. Its nationally prominent lawyers have broad experience with all kinds of employee benefit plans, including retirement plans, 401(k) plans, employee stock ownership plans and welfare benefits plans. The group represents both large and small employers, multi-employer funds, 100% employee-owned ESOP’s, governmental agencies, and individuals.
Attorneys Practicing In This Area
|
