Employee benefits are governed by technical and complex laws and regulations. In a changing economy, workers of all levels must be vigilant in order to obtain or protect hard-earned employee benefits.
L&N employee benefits practice focuses on:
- Pension & retirement benefits
- Health insurance
Pension/Retirement Benefits
Employees that work in the private sector are offered a variety of retirement benefit plans. These plans include 401ks, Simplified Employee Pension Plans, Profit Sharing Plans and Pension Plans.
The federal law that offers primary protection to private employer sponsored retirement plans is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). This law is highly complex and has many technical provisions that require the advice and consultation of experienced attorneys.
ERISA imposes reporting and disclosure act obligations, fiduciary duties on plan fiduciaries and non-discriminatory funding and other requirements such as maintaining four different types of investment options for 401K plans.
Reporting & Disclosure Plan Obligations
ERISA-covered plans are required to provide specific information to plan participants and beneficiaries. This serves the purpose of allowing participants and beneficiaries access to important benefit information.
Plans are required to furnish summary plan descriptions which contain a summary of the major plan provisions in plain language. Also, Plans must provide quarterly statements and/or annual statements stating the amount of pension benefits. It is critically important that Plan participants maintain and keep copies of these documents.
In order to obtain Plan documents other than an account statement or summary plan description, a participant is required to make a written request for information to the Plan Administrator. Such requests can seek Plan amendments, actual Plan documents and funding/investment policies and results.
Issues To Be On The Look-Out For
L&N has represented thousands of Plan participants and beneficiaries in connection with claim to maintain and recover Plan benefits. Our experience informs of the following items to be "on the look-out" for:
- A Plan Administrator refuses to provide Plan documents or claims not to have required Plan documents.
- Contributions that a participant makes to a retirement plan are not properly recorded on employee benefit statements.
- An employer does not deposit contributions into a retirement plan or delays depositing the retirement contributions for a long period of time.
- An employer invests retirement funds on a participant's behalf and incurs losses.
- An employer sponsor provides limited options in terms of investment opportunities to plan participants and beneficiaries causing losses.
- A plan incurs severe financial losses that are difficult to explain or the plan sponsor refuses to explain why the retirement plan has lost money.
- If Plan participants and beneficiaries are charged administrative fees when Plan documents do not permit that.
- A Plan has unusual high fees or an employer sponsor invests retirement assets with personal friends or financial advisors and receives payments that are not provided to plan participants and beneficiaries.
- A plan does not participate in class action lawsuits over stock or other investment losses causing further monetary losses to Plan participants and beneficiaries.
- A Plan eliminated or decreases a Plan benefits without providing prior written notice.
We have recovered large monetary awards and settlements in righting the wrongs committed by Plan sponsors and administrators for committing the misconduct noted above.
Health Insurance Issues
Retiree health insurance and loss of health insurance issues frequently arise due to employer conduct.
All kinds of individual employees are all too often promised in employee handbooks and/or collective bargaining agreements and other written documents that they will receive lifetime health insurance benefits. The promises conveniently melt away later after the employees and their families have left employment and are forced to fend for themselves when health insurance coverage can no longer be obtained or is not affordable.
Unlike other law firms, we have the technical expertise concerning federal and state statutes to determine quickly whether those benefits are protected and to advise clients. We have successfully litigated class and individuals actions over health insurance losses and reductions.
Individuals that work for employers in the private sector that have twenty or more employees must provide insurance coverage pursuant to the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA) to all employees that leave employment unless the employee is terminated for gross misconduct. Employees that do not receive notices of continuing health insurance coverage within 60 days of leaving employment are entitled to statutory penalties and other remedies if they incur out of pocket medical bills and expenses.
We have obtained substantial monetary penalties and settlements against employers that have not properly notified their employees and forced them to pay outstanding medical bills for individuals.
Contact Us
We welcome your inquires concerning employee benefits to our Firm, contact us.