Single Employer Plans

Lindabury’s Employee Benefits group is devoted to representing single-employer plans, plan sponsors, their fiduciaries and participants in ERISA and employee benefit matters. We are regularly called upon to advise plan sponsors, trustees and administrators on the wide array of legal issues facing all types of single-employer plans both for profit and nonprofit, and provide guidance on all aspects of tax, ERISA, ACA and related employee benefit laws.

Our team of employee benefits attorneys design, implement and administer 403(b) plans, 401(k) plans, profit-sharing plans, stock bonus plans, money purchase plans and health and welfare plans, both insured and self-funded. We frequently counsel clients, along with members of Lindabury’s corporate and financial services groups, on the fiduciary and other legal aspects of plan administration. We work with trustees, custodians, investment advisors, investment managers, lenders, actuaries, accountants, third-party administrators, insurers, prescription benefit managers and other service providers to negotiate and draft all necessary plan agreements.

Our experience covers the design and day-to-day administration of single-employer defined benefit, cash balance pension plans, voluntary employee benefit associations including obtaining favorable determination letters, drafting and amending plan documents and summary plan descriptions, reporting and disclosure obligations, negotiating service provider agreements, merging plans and defending the Board of Trustees during IRS, EBSA or PBCG investigations and audits.

Services provided to single employer plans include:

• Design and implementation of qualified retirement plans, including 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, and defined benefit pension plans, as well as hybrid plans that combine the features of more than one of these types of plans.
• Planning for termination of defined benefit pension plans, including managing liabilities and reducing risk through plan design changes and annuitization of benefit payments.
• Health and other welfare benefit plan consulting, including compliance with ERISA, ACA, COBRA and HIPAA, including reporting and disclosure requirements.
• Assisting employers of all sizes with planning, compliance and reporting associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
• Employee benefits consulting in connection with acquisitions and divestitures.
• Compliance reviews for qualified retirement plans.
• Assistance with correction of plan administration, plan document and compliance errors and failures either through "self-correction" or through formal applications with government agencies, including DOL and IRS voluntary correction programs.
• Non-qualified deferred compensation and retirement plan documentation, tax consulting and compliance, including compliance with Code Section 409A requirements.
• Representation of clients before the Department of Labor, Employee Benefit Security Administration, the IRS and other government agencies.
• Defending employers in employee benefit plan litigation.
• Guidance and analysis with respect to multi-employer pension plan liabilities, required funding on withdrawal, controlled group status and exposure and on-going plan funding issues, including review of liabilities in mergers, acquisitions and divestiture transactions and allocation of liabilities among the parties.