#WorkforceWednesday®: New DOL Guidance - ERISA Plan Cybersecurity Update - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - ERISA Forfeiture Litigation
ERISA Blog | Changes to the HIPAA Privacy Rules A Primer for Self-Insured Group Health Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What the J&J Case Means for Plan Administrators
The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - New Federal Rule Aims to Hold Investment Advisors to a Higher Standard
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 – Top-Hat Plans — Special Edition Podcast
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation: Getting Ready for 2024 - Health and Welfare Plan Developments — Special Edition Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Partial Plan Terminations
Podcast Episode 189: Adding Context to Compliance and Color To Your Legal Practice
#WorkforceWednesday: SECURE Act 2.0 - What 401(k) Plan Sponsors Need to Know - Employment Law This Week®
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Plan Administrators’ 2022 Year-End Checklist
An Inside Look as a Juror - FCRA Focus Podcast
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Multiemployer Plans
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Court Decisions Impacting Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries
(A)ESOP's Fables - The Income and Estate Tax-Free ESOP
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - What Constitutes Plan Assets Under ERISA?
PODCAST: Williams Mullen's Benefits Companion - Group Health Plan Service Provider Compensation Disclosure Requirements
Update and Discussion on Legal and Practical Issues
Welcome to 'Just Compensation'
“Top hat plans” —non-qualified deferred compensation plans that can be exempt from most of the requirements of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 or ERISA—can be a useful tool for employers looking to provide...more
Recruiting and retaining top executives can be challenging for non-governmental tax-exempt organizations such as Code §501(c)(3) organizations, private universities, and certain healthcare organizations (Nonprofits). Not only...more
This week we move away from the world of the standard retirement or health and welfare plans and into the world of executive compensation. Executive compensation arrangements provide a company with a highly flexible benefit...more
Deferred compensation plans offer highly compensated and key employees an opportunity to earn performance awards, defer compensation and taxes until a later date, reduce certain payroll taxes, informally find executive life...more
A client recently reviewed a census of participants in its deferred compensation plan and found that the covered group amounted to nearly 15% of its total workforce. Mindful of the need to limit the number of participants in...more
As is tradition, we are happy to present our End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” Lists. We are publishing our “To Do” Lists in four separate Employee Benefits Updates. Part 1 covered year-end health and welfare plan issues, Part...more
In June the Internal Revenue Service released an updated Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Audit Technique Guide. This updated Guide replaces the initial Guide published in 2015. While it is too early to say whether the...more
From time to time we field questions about the order in which deductions for various employee benefits (e.g., 401(k) plan elective deferrals and insurance premiums for welfare benefit plan benefits) should be taken from an...more
Employee benefits professionals have faced many challenges in 2020. We have seen remarkable changes to state and local requirements, an onslaught of new benefits legislation and governmental policies, shifting reporting and...more
Nonqualified deferred compensation plans often include anti-assignment language prohibiting a plan participant from assigning benefits to anyone. Because top-hat plans are exempt from most aspects of ERISA including the...more
The first article for professional publication that I wrote was an article about using offshore trusts in non qualified deferred compensation planning. I called the article the Rastafarian Rabbi Trust. The article was...more
Too often brokers and financial advisors think about their client’s retirement plan needs and only think about the 401(k) plan. It’s understandable based on their lack of understanding of retirement plan basics, but it’s not...more
Companies implement bonus plans to meet a variety of business objectives: retention, specific company business goals, change of control, and others. In designing bonus plans, there are a variety of legal fields that must be...more
“Exit Contribution” an End-Run Around de minimis Withdrawal Liability - A recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Sheet Metal Workers’ National Pension Fund v. Four-C-Aire, Inc. (4th Cir. July...more
A seemingly routine Sixth Circuit appeal involving the interpretation of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act statute (ERISA) recently sparked an interesting debate between two Circuit Judges — Amul Thapar and...more
Section 409A was added to the Tax Code in 2004 to, among other things, limit the ability of companies and their executives to optimize tax outcomes by controlling the timing of deferred compensation payments. Although this...more
Although employees face additional taxes and decreased benefits resulting from employer failures involving nonqualified deferred compensation (NQDC) plans, they may sue employers to recover their losses. For ERISA-covered...more
Even before the California Supreme Court decided Edwards in 2008, employers knew all too well the woes of attempting to enforce non-competes against California employees. Edwards simply reaffirmed California’s long-standing...more
It is well known by employers that nonqualified deferred compensation (“NQDC”) plans that are established to provide unfunded deferred compensation benefits to a select group of management or highly compensated employees...more
In this episode of the Proskauer Benefits Brief, Paul Hamburger co-chair of Proskauer’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group, and associate Steven Einhorn discuss the recently proposed IRS regulations addressing...more
Much has been written about the Department of Labor’s final rule regarding disability benefit claims procedures (the “Final Rule”), which took effect on April 2, 2018. And by now, most employers – and all disability insurance...more
When you’re filing that Form 5500, just notice that certain answers may likely lead you to an Internal Revenue Service or Department of Labor audit....more
As mentioned in our recent blog, the date for complying with the new disability claims procedures (April 2, 2018) is rapidly approaching. In addition to making sure disability plans comply with the new rules, employers...more
In January 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that final regulations affecting how some ERISA plans process claims and appeals will apply beginning April 1, 2018. As explained below, the final regulations...more
Editor's Overview - For over two decades, federal law has required covered health plans and insurers to ensure that certain mental health benefits are in parity with offered medical/surgical benefits. The meaning of...more