Employers face a maze of constantly evolving tax, compliance, and administrative laws and regulations when crafting employee benefits plans. They turn to Akerman for practical, up-to-the-minute advice on the full range of employee benefits—from health and welfare plans to executive compensation programs and ERISA litigation.

Our multidisciplinary team has substantial experience in creating all types of qualified and non-qualified retirement plans, along with the various trusts that fund them. We help employers creatively design and implement executive compensation programs, as well as health and welfare employee benefit plans. We advise clients regarding benefits plan audits by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor (DOL), and have successfully represented clients before both agencies on compliance and disclosure requirements of health and welfare plans. Our team also advises clients on the implementation and termination of benefits plans, as well as on the techniques—from charitable trusts to insurance planning—that can supplement company retirement plans. Clients call upon us to advise on the intricate issues involved in hiring, layoff, and employee discipline situations. These include structuring employment or separation agreements that address employee benefits issues such as golden parachute planning and continued COBRA coverage.

When it comes to ERISA, we take a preventive approach, streamlining clients’ health, retirement, and benefit plan documentation, administration, and claims review procedures. Should litigation be unavoidable, we work to achieve positive outcomes with minimal disruption, restoring business as usual in potentially devastating class actions asserted by employees against plan fiduciaries, employers who maintain the plans, and corporate officers and directors.