Employers strive to offer attractive employee benefits in addition to attractive salaries and wages.  Varnum's employee benefits attorneys are ready to help. We help clients design, draft, implement, and administer a wide variety of employee benefit and executive compensation plans. We help them comply with complicated laws that affect their plans. We help them correct mistakes and other problems with their plans under voluntary compliance programs. We represent clients in audits and other proceedings before the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor, and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. We also represent them in mergers, acquisitions, reorganizations, and liquidations involving employee benefits plans.

Employee Benefits Experience

• Pension plans, including Social Security alternative plans for governmental employers
• Profit sharing plans, including cross tested and age weighted plans
• Retirement savings or 401(k) plans
• ERISA compliance
• ERISA litigation
• Employee stock ownership plans (ESOP)
• Tax sheltered annuity or 403(b) plans
• Health care plans, including high deductible health plans, health savings accounts, and health reimbursement arrangements, and compliance with Health Care Reform, COBRA, and HIPAA
• Wellness programs
• Cafeteria and flexible benefits plans
• Non-qualified deferred compensation and other executive compensation plans

Who are our clients? Public- and private-sector employers, third-party administrators, and trustees of single- and multi-employer pension and health care plans, among others. We also counsel individuals who are planning for retirement and pursuing their rights under employee benefit plans.