- Jackson Lewis

About this practice

Designing market-competitive benefits and compensation strategies to maximize talent retention and enhance economic responsiveness is challenging — especially when wanting to comply with increasingly complex related regulatory requirements. That’s why so many leading public and nonprofit organizations rely on Jackson Lewis. Our Employee Benefits practice group handles a full spectrum of transactional, regulatory and litigation benefit law matters for a diverse mix of business clients on a nationwide basis. From tax-qualified contributory and pension plans to executive compensation, ESOPS, corporate transactions, workforce reductions and more. We approach even the most technical and complex benefit law questions with an eye toward preventive strategies — minimizing the likelihood of liabilities associated with benefit claims, litigation and enforcement matters — and practical solutions.

Clients

Employers + organizations: Public and nonprofit, all sizes, emerging and established, across all industries
Plan sponsors, plan fiduciaries and benefit plans Insurers
Plan administrators and third-party administrators
Institutional and individual trustees, corporate officers and directors and other parties and investors (i.e., PE groups)
Selling shareholders, public and private/family-held corporations, bank holding corporations

Core capabilities

We provide comprehensive legal advice, counseling and representation across the following benefits issues:

Design, administration and operation of all benefit and compensation arrangements, including compliance with ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code, and defense of benefit, fiduciary and other claims relating to plan administration, and compliance with the terms of the plan and all applicable laws.
Tax-qualified defined contribution plans and defined benefit pension plans (including cash balance and other hybrid pension plan formulas).
Executive compensation arrangements.
Corporate transactions and workforce reorganizations, as well as the range of issues involved in multiemployer pension and welfare plan liabilities.
Designing, implementing and using ESOPs in multiple transaction types, including mergers and acquisitions, estate and succession planning, hostile takeover bids, tender offers, shareholder liquidity/Section 1042 of the Internal Revenue Code tax-deferred transactions, stock re-purchases by issuers, redemptions and recapitalizations, management and leveraged buyouts, and the use of ESOPs as an acquisition strategy.
Defense in examinations, summons proceedings, and adversary proceedings and appeals initiated under internal agency procedures by federal or state agencies and courts of specialized jurisdiction.

Multiemployer plans + withdrawal liability

Title IV of ERISA imposes an “exit tax” on any employer who, for whatever reason, reduces or ceases having an obligation to contribute to a jointly administered pension plan. The tax is equal to their allocable share of any underfunding. This statutory withdrawal liability can be extremely onerous, and the implementing rules skew sharply in the fund’s favor and are full of traps for the unwary.

We are well versed in this complex and contentious area, and advise clients across the following areas of concern:

Contribution Obligations

Working closely with our labor practice group, since these obligations almost always results from collective bargaining, we provide comprehensive advice regarding obligations to contribute to multiemployer plans and the cessation of that obligation.

Transactional Services

We work with outside deal counsel and our internal Transactional Services team to conduct due diligence regarding potential multiemployer plan liabilities and the impact different transaction structures can have on them. We also advise on structuring transactions to comply with the “sale of assets” exception to avoid imposing withdrawal liability on the seller.

Audit Response

We help employers navigate payroll audits, which are routinely performed by multiemployer plans for compliance with their respective collective bargaining agreements, by developing a comprehensive process to streamline these audits while addressing the potential risks and cost associated with defending against aggressive funds and auditors.

purple icon of two magnifying glasses looping back to each other with arrows. one contains a checkmark and one contains an x.

Withdrawal Liability and Dispute Resolution

We regularly handle withdrawal liability disputes – which are subject to mandatory arbitration under the statute, with the resulting awards subject to enforcement or challenge in federal district court – involving amounts in excess of $100 million. We are experienced in all issues and defenses involved in the assessment, determination and collection of withdrawal liability.

Cross-practice problem-solving

Disability, Leave and Health Management: Benefits-related considerations for Wellness Programs in the workplace, including COVID-19-related employment actions for furloughs, compensation decreases and other resultant changes in the workplace.
ERISA Complex Litigation: Strategic defenses in virtually all 50 states against both mainstream ERISA litigation as well as complex benefits litigation and class actions.
Privacy, Data and Cybersecurity: Compliance with HIPAA/HITECH Privacy and Security regulations regarding group health plans and health care providers.
Transactional Services: Due diligence, definitive document negotiation + drafting, insurer + co-investor interface, closing/post-closing management + integration, and more across all workplace law issues implicated during corporate deals, consolidations + restructurings, and distressed situations + bankruptcies.
See all related practices.

Benefits are an integral consideration in any employment action. We collaborate with other leading Jackson Lewis practices to bring clients comprehensive answers for better benefits outcomes.

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