Concentrating on corporate law, financial and real estate transactions, and litigation, Clark Hill Thorp Reed attorneys deliver expertise in multiple practice areas and industries. Our reputation is grounded in the highest ethical standards and strongest commitment to client service. In a world of increasing complexity, Clark Hill Thorp Reed provides confident and sure counsel. Our multidisciplinary approach means working hard and working smart on our clients’ behalf to provide innovative and cost-effective solutions to legal problems.
With both the breadth and depth of experience to assist clients of all sizes with the full range of employee benefit and executive compensation matters, Clark Hill Thorp Reed’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation attorneys provide clients with practical solutions to complex employee benefit and executive compensation issues.
Our practice group members assist clients to understand the complex statutes and regulations governing the adoption, amendment, and, if necessary, termination of employee benefit plans, and routinely represent plan sponsors and plan administrators before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).
Our employee benefits attorneys have extensive experience providing comprehensive employee benefit due diligence support for companies involved in acquisitions and divestitures as well as financing and re-financing transactions, and, in this role, identify potential problem areas and suggest appropriate terms and conditions that will best protect the client’s interests.
Our lawyers work with the administrators of ERISA plans to establish benefit claim procedures that comply with the standards imposed by law which will ensure that, if challenged in court, the decision rendered under the administrative claims procedure will be afforded the highest deference under the law.
Our benefits lawyers help plan fiduciaries establish best practices related to the selection of plan service providers, such as investment advisors and investment managers, and provide fiduciaries with guidance on the importance of documenting procedural and substantive due diligence.
Our practice group members assist clients with the design and administration of tax-qualified, health and welfare, non-qualified and equity-based plans, and provide advice related to the taxation of all forms of compensation payable to employees and independent contractors.
The attorneys who work in Clark Hill Thorp Reed’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice group understand the dynamic nature of this area of the law and keep abreast of changes in the law (such as health care reform) and the issuance of formal and informal guidance by the various agencies with the responsibility for regulating employee benefits and executive compensation.
For many "large" employers, determining whether to "pay or play" may not be an easy process. The ACA's employer shared responsibility provision goes into effect in 2014, making advance preparation even more important if you have part-time, seasonal or "variable hour" employees. Since you are only required to either potentially pay (a penalty for) or play (offer coverage to) those individuals who are considered your full-time employees, your ability to substantiate whether an employee is or is not "full-time" will be critical to successfully navigating the "pay or play" provisions of the ACA. ...
The Supreme Court has spoken, the election is over, and if you did not plan for compliance with the ACA, you are now playing "catch-up." If your group health care plan is maintained on a calendar-year basis, you are either in the midst of finalizing open enrollment materials for 2013 or in the midst of open enrollment. ...
The ACA added Sections 4375, 4376 and 4377 to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Code). These new Code sections impose fees on issuers of certain health insurance policies (each called a "specified health insurance policy") and on plan sponsors of certain self-insured plans (each called an "applicable self-insured health plan"). ...
Under the Affordable Care Act(ACA), employer sponsors of insured group health plans might soon receive a rebate check in the mail from the insurance company. The rebate check relates to the ACA's "medical loss ratio" requirement or MLR. ...
Now that the Supreme Court has issued its opinion, it is time for plan sponsors to focus on new compliance obligations under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that impact the upcoming open enrollment season.
Employer health plans (and insurers for insured plans) are required to prepare and distribute a document called a Summary of Benefits and Coverage (“SBC”). The purpose is to assist individuals in understanding and comparing their health coverage options. The SBC is in addition to, and not in lieu of, the Summary Plan Description (SPD) that employers must already provide to participants.
Since the Affordable Care Act (“Act”) became law in March of 2010, the question we benefits attorneys are most often asked is, “Don’t you think health care reform is going to go away (be repealed) (be ruled unconstitutional)?” We consistently have answered “no.” And despite the opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued on August 12, 2011, our answer stays the same.
For now, President Obama’s decision not to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”) should not affect how employers administer their employee benefit plans. This Communiqué explains the President’s decision and its impact on employer-sponsored plans.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (which covers Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands) recently held that a purchaser of assets may be liable for a seller’s delinquent ERISA fund contributions where the buyer had notice of the liability prior to the sale and there exists sufficient evidence of continuity of operations between the buyer and seller.
Health care reform creates new challenges for plan sponsors. They may face significant excise tax penalties for noncompliance, as well as participant claims under Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) enforcement rules. Modulating it all is the fact that the mandates are “people-friendly.” In the final analysis, every reader of this article is a person who may ultimately benefit when the time comes to be a consumer of care.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-152), combined, make up the law commonly referred to as Health Care Reform. This article refers to Health Care Reform as the Affordable Care Act or the ACA.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, (the "Act") which was recently signed into law, is anticipated to significantly impact a number of Thorp Reed & Armstrong clients. Provisions of the Act may affect consumer finance transactions; municipal and corporate securities offerings; registrations; enforcement; filings and disclosure requirements; investment advisors; and the executive compensation landscape.
As you know, with the passage of the Temporary Extension Act of 2010, eligibility for the 15 month COBRA subsidy was recently extended by Congress to cover involuntary terminations occurring through March 31, 2010.
On December 21, 2009, President Obama signed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010 (“DODAA”). Tagged on near the very end of DODAA is language that extends the COBRA subsidy under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (“ARRA”).
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently published an interim final “breach notification” rule (HHS Rule), which clarifies several requirements of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). The HHS Rule was developed in conjunction with the recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule, which pertains to breaches by vendors of personal health records and certain other entities not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
The California Supreme Court recently issued a decision recognizing same sex marriages and joined the growing number of states that legally recognize same sex marriages or same sex civil unions.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued proposed regulations under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). This Code provision regulates the ability of an employer to provide its employees the opportunity to receive certain, qualified benefits, on a pre-tax basis through a Cafeteria Plan, which may also be known as a Flexible Benefit Plan or § 125 Plan. The proposed regulations are intended to be effective on January 1, 2009, but employers may rely upon them now.
