Retirement Plans
Our employee benefits (EB) attorneys have experience in tax law, accounting, and perhaps most importantly - a practical knowledge of human resources legal issues. Our EB lawyers are focused on benefit cost containment for clients, and on the importance of competitively designed retirement plans for clients to enhance employee recruiting and retention.
We design and implement pension and other qualified retirement plans for employers (both for profit and non-profit) of all sizes. We maintain IRS pre-approved prototype and volume submitter defined contribution plans for our clients who have profit sharing and 401(k) plans, including cross-tested plans. We also draft individually designed plans for our clients who sponsor defined benefit (pension) plans, cash balance plans, or employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) or who have other specialized needs.
Examples of our services include:
- Assisting clients with the development of retirement plan strategies to help in attracting, motivating and retaining a high-quality work force;
- Consolidating employee benefit plans for clients involved in merger and acquisition transactions to ensure continuity of benefits to employees;
- Counseling clients regarding the pros and cons of various benefit options, including safe harbor 401(k) plans, automatic enrollment, plan loans and other design features;
Counseling clients on correcting retirement plan errors and using when appropriate the IRS’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), the DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP) and/or the DOL’s Delinquent Filer Voluntary Correction Program (DFVCP); - Representing clients in audits and investigations involving the IRS, DOL, and PBGC;
- Assisting union employers in managing their employer withdrawal liability, responding to assessments and defending them in actions involving multi-employer pension plans; and
- Advising clients in litigation avoidance as well as litigation defense surrounding breaches of fiduciary duty.