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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS & ERISA

Every employer wants to attract and retain the best employees and to make sure our investments in our employees are the right ones. And while the legal and regulatory challenges for employers are many and continuously changing, how you handle employee benefits can make a tremendous difference in your business.

  • Represented various clients with regard to the new funding obligations imposed on multiemployer pension plans under the Pension Protection Act of 2006.
  • Assisted in obtaining summary judgment on behalf of beneficiaries of a health care plan against claims by the plan under ERISA seeking to recover $236,744 out of the proceeds of a malpractice settlement. She drafted the various motions and petitions and conducted research.
  • Qualified tax-favored retirement plans (pension and 401K plans)
  • Retiree medical benefits
  • Obtained a private letter ruling for a client involving procedural issues concerning a cutback in pension benefits.
  • Equity-based compensation plans
  • Voluntary employees' beneficiary associations (VEBAs)
  • Cafeteria plans and flexible spending accounts
  • Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA).
  • COBRA health insurance continuation coverage rules.
  • Helped an acquisition target negotiate a new labor agreement that froze contributions to an ESOP and implemented a 401(k) plan instead.
  • Newborns and Mothers Health Protection Act (NMHPA).
  • Obtained a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service with respect to the contributions of stock options to a 401(k) plan by Travelers Insurance (now Citigroup). That ruling was the subject of articles published in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
  • Prepared summary plan descriptions for a newly negotiated welfare benefit program that included a cafeteria plan.
  • Fringe benefit plans (e.g., transportation, adoption and education assistance)
  • Women's Cancer Rights Act (WCRA).
  • Executive compensation and employment arrangements
  • Negotiated and prepared an agreement among a seller, two subsequent buyers and a union, to spin off a portion of the original seller's pension plan.
  • Life and disability plans
  • Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
  • Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
  • Nonqualified deferred compensation plans
  • Obtained a favorable private letter ruling for Citigroup involving a transfer of assets from a U.S. pension trust to a Puerto Rican pension trust.
  • Restructured employer-related costs by negotiating the termination or freezing of retiree medical benefits and defined benefit pension plans, wage rates and job consolidations in manufacturing, health care, chemical, mining, public utility and automotive parts supply industries.
  • Multiemployer pension plans
  • Long-term incentive plans
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
  • Assisted in the opposition to a petition for certiorari to the United States Supreme Court; as a result, a $220 million verdict involving a breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation associated with the coal, coke and steel industry was upheld. She performed extensive legal research pertaining to various federal constitutional issues involving due process, punitive damages, right to appellate review and execution of judgment statutes.
  • Severance pay programs
  • Worker Adjustment Relocation and Notification Act (WARN).
  • Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).
  • Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
  • Health and medical benefit plans (both self-insured and insured)
  • Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
  • Assisted Alpha Natural Resources with the executive compensation and employee benefits aspects of its acquisition of Massey Energy Company.