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Employee Benefits

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Attracting and hiring the best people your company can afford, then motivating and retaining them—these are likely to be among your key business strategies. A well-designed benefits program can be a major step in helping your business reach its goals.

The attorneys who make up the Hodgson Russ Employee Benefits Practice Group have an entrepreneurial approach toward solving challenging problems, meeting objectives, and providing clients with a competitive edge. The firm’s national policy perspective gives our Employee Benefits Practice Group attorneys an advantage in providing high-quality legal advice. In addition, the Employee Benefits Practice Group maintains contacts with the Internal Revenue Service’s National Office and Key District offices, allowing us to assess and react quickly to new developments and opportunities on behalf of our clients.

Some people say we “wrote the book” on taxation of distributions from qualified plans— and we did.

Taxation of Distributions From Qualified Plans, written by members of the Hodgson Russ Employee Benefits team, is a 700-page publication and the seminal work in its field. It’s available for purchase on-line at www.riahome.com/estore. Our benefits attorneys even address distribution taxation and planning questions in a “Dear Abby” format at www.benefitslink.com, a free Internet site that provides compliance information. Our attorneys’ know-how on the full range of employee benefits issues is recognized by frequent requests for presentations across the country and for contributions to national publications and journals.

The Hodgson Russ Employee Benefits Practice Group actively supports clients who want to attract, hire, and retain the best employees. Here’s how: We help our clients establish, maintain, and operate tax-qualified retirement plans and trusts. The Employee Benefits Practice Group:
• Drafts plan and trust documents, including those designed for specific use as well as prototype documents
• Provides sponsors with advice on keeping plans in compliance with relevant laws and regulations
• Assists clients in conducting self-audits of plan operations and, when operational defects are found, in using IRS and DOL-sanctioned self-correction programs
• Develops appropriate plan procedures (e.g., QDRO procedures) and employee communications and administrative forms

The Employee Benefits Practice Group knows Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Pension plans (both tax-qualified and nonqualified) and welfare plans can be subject to ERISA. We provide counsel about the following ERISA topics and more:
• Fiduciary responsibility and liability
• Claims procedures
• Multiemployer plans and withdrawal liability
• The exclusive benefit rule
• Reporting and disclosure requirements
• Prohibited transactions and applications for exemptions

When qualified retirement plans are unable to generate desired benefit levels for highly compensated employees and senior executives, the Employee Benefits group is well versed in designing, drafting, and implementing supplemental retirement benefits, including:
• Nonqualified, deferred compensation arrangements, including supplemental executive retirement plans and mirror 401(k) plans
• Rabbi trust arrangements
• Split dollar funding arrangements

The Employee Benefits Practice Group designs and implements a variety of stock-based compensation programs for both publicly traded and privately held businesses. Among these programs are:
• Stock option plans
• Employee stock purchase plans
• Phantom stock plans
• Restricted stock plans
• Global stock plans

Hodgson Russ attorneys develop other specialized compensation programs for executives and senior staff. In addition to deferred and stock-based compensation
programs, our attorneys are experienced with:
• Golden handcuff and change-in-control agreements
• Performance-based or incentive compensation arrangements
• Golden parachute taxation planning
• Compliance with 162(m) and deduction limitations
• FICA withholding requirements

The Employee Benefits team is knowledgeable about the special parameters applicable to tax-exempt employers when it comes to qualified retirement plan rules and deferred compensation arrangements. We devise appropriate retirement benefit programs for tax-exempt employers and advise them on:
• 403(b) tax shelter annuity plans
• Code section 457 deferred compensation plans

We help our clients establish and maintain a wide variety of welfare and fringe benefit plans including:
• Group health plans for active employees and retirees
• Dependent care plans
• Cafeteria or flexible benefits plans
• Disability plans
• Group life insurance plans
• Employee assistance plans
• Qualified parking benefits
• VEBA trusts and other post-retirement benefit funding mechanisms

Welfare benefit programs are being subjected to an increased volume of statutory and regulatory activity, and the Employee Benefits Practice Group is able to advise clients on compliance issues like:
• COBRA continuation coverage requirements
• HIPAA medical privacy requirements

Hodgson Russ attorneys develop tax-effective distribution plans for funds accumulated in IRAs and in qualified and nonqualified retirement plans. Working with our Estates & Trusts Practice Group, we help individuals prepare appropriate beneficiary designations and determine when and how amounts must be paid to satisfy minimum distribution requirements.

Put our experience to work

Hodgson Russ is a full-service law firm, offering clients seamless access to knowledgeable and experienced attorneys in more than 20 different practice areas. Here are a few that our Employee Benefits clients find particularly valuable:

Our Benefits Litigation team handles benefits claims and claims for breach of fiduciary duty and provides litigation exposure and avoidance counsel to plan sponsors. Although our Employee Benefits attorneys’ attention to plan operations renders litigious situations infrequent, clients have the security of having our respected team of litigators on hand if an unfortunate situation arises.

The Labor & Employment attorneys at Hodgson Russ generally counsel management only, serving public and private, unionized and non-union clients in matters involving a wide range of labor and employment laws and guidelines. We focus on preventive steps, believing that avoidance of litigation and human resources problems is the most effective method of minimizing costly employment disputes.

Our State & Local Tax (SALT) group offers our business clients substantial experience in all New York State and City and multistate tax matters. From planning and compliance to litigation and damage control, we tailor our services to meet the specific needs of each client, whether that client is a small local business or a Fortune 500 company. Our SALT team can be a valuable addition to your team of tax professionals.

For more information, please contact a member of the practice group:

Peter K. Bradley
716.848.1446
pbradley@hodgsonruss.com

Anita Costello Greer
716.848.1532
agreer@hodgsonruss.com

Michael J. Flanagan
716.848.1480
mflanagan@hodgsonruss.com

Richard W. Kaiser
716.848.1494
rkaiser@hodgsonruss.com

Arthur A. Marrapese, III
716.848.1751
art_marrapese@hodgsonruss.com

Daniel R. Sharpe
716.848.1402
dsharpe@hodgsonruss.com

Dianne Bennett (Of Counsel)
716.848.1406
dianne_bennett@hodgsonruss.com