Employees and their compensation packages are at the heart of a company’s success. Plans must be crafted to reflect existing and long-term strategy and goals for the business, as well as continually shifting regulatory requirements. Akerman's employee benefits and executive compensation team works with clients to design, implement, and administer qualified and non-qualified retirement, health and welfare plans, and advise on benefit and compensation issues that arise in both domestic and cross-border situations.
Our lawyers work closely with boards of directors, board committees (such as compensation, retirement, or investment), plan administrators, and plan fiduciaries on the implementation and maintenance of employee benefit programs. We counsel plan sponsors and service providers regarding compliance with ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, the Affordable Care Act, COBRA, and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act. We play a key role in assisting our clients with respect to benefits plan audits by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor, and represent clients before both agencies on compliance and disclosure requirements.
We regularly counsel publicly traded and privately held companies and tax-exempt organizations on executive compensation issues, with respect to employment agreements, severance arrangements, golden parachutes, and the reporting and disclosure of these compensatory arrangements.
Our broad client base allows us to help clients see what is on the horizon — to anticipate new risks and exposures with respect to employee benefit programs, and advise our clients on potential ways to address new and challenging legal hurdles. Our familiarity with an array of plans and executive pay programs provides us with valuable insight for creating tax-effective compensation and benefit solutions for large clients and practical and workable programs for our smaller clients.
