Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

Overview

We have over three decades of experience specializing in employee benefit law and are engaged in the full range of employee benefits law compliance and transaction issues. We provide knowledgeable and creative solutions for challenging compliance, correction and design issues for large and medium-sized companies. Backed by an advanced degree in taxation and Florida Bar Board Certification, the team is consistently recognized as among the leading providers in Florida.

Range of Services

• Counsel employers on the design, implementation and operation of all types or employee pension and welfare plans as well as executive equity and deferred compensation programs
• Represent employers before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) regarding tax qualification and audits of plans and correction of plan errors
• Advise employers on handling employees’ claims for benefits and strategizing the defense of claims
• Provide advice to employers on the myriad tax and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) issues surrounding “nonqualified deferred compensation” in employers’ plans and employment agreements including deferred compensation plans, stock options and other equity incentives
• Counsel tax-exempt organizations on the special taxes and rules that apply to them in their efforts to offer competitive benefits to diverse employee groups
• Advise employers on payroll tax issues
• Handle responses to IRS “Affordable Care Act” penalty claims
• Handle significant and sophisticated ERISA claims and litigation in state and federal courts on behalf of employers, plan administrators, trustees and individual defendants including:
  • Claims for severance, disability and other welfare benefits
  • Claims for benefits under ERISA top hat plans, such as supplemental executive retirement plans
  • Claims for breach of fiduciary duty against corporate board members, internal benefits appeals committees, and trustees
  • Claims of procedural and substantive violations under ERISA plans
  • Discrimination under ERISA Section 510
  • Claims for executive benefits and stock options
  • Issues of ERISA exhaustion of administrative remedies requirement and futility issues
  • ERISA preemption
  • Statute of limitations issues regarding both fiduciary and non-fiduciary claims
  • Distinguishing between fiduciary and settlor functions
  • Issues relating to the appropriate standard of review and plan administrators’ conflicts of interest
  • Interpretation of plan amendment, termination, vesting, accrual and anti-cutback provisions
  • Remedies available for technical procedural violations, delegation of fiduciary and claims administration functions
  • ERISA’s church plan exemption
  • Attorney-client privilege issues
• Defend an array of benefits/executive compensation claims, including those related to pension, 401(k) and plans, breach of fiduciary duty, and executive benefits and stock options
• Represent employer-plan sponsors in audits by IRS and DOL
• Represent tax-exempt employers in connection with 403(b) and retirement plans (qualified and nonqualified) and health and welfare plans
• Correct 401(k) and retirement plan compliance deficiencies and submission for IRS approval
• Plan for employee benefits in implementing Family Leave Act policies
• Provide guidance on other issues including:
  • Employee Retention Credit
  • Qualified Retirement Plans including 401(k), pension, profit sharing, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)
  • Nonqualified deferred compensation and supplemental retirement plans
  • Early retirement and severance pay programs
  • Employee benefits and leave policies
  • Employee benefits for professional employer organizations
  • Incentive and nonqualified stock option plans and stock appreciation rights plans
  • Income and estate planning for retirement benefits
  • Executive compensation issues including nonqualified deferred compensation plan compliance with tax Code Section 409A
  • Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) issues
  • Section 125 – Cafeteria Plans
  • Medical and insurance plan questions
• Support Corporate and Real Estate attorneys in transactions including:
  • Merger and Acquisition (M&A) planning for benefits issues including due diligence review
  • Evaluate risks posed by employee benefit plan and executive agreement compliance mistakes of target companies and assisting in their correction
  • Help find ways that benefits plans can be used to create additional value including through the use of ESOPs, deferred compensation plans, and other strategies
  • Assist in drafting appropriate employee benefit plan provisions in relevant agreements planning for transition of employees and plans after closings