Employee Benefits
Employee Benefits:
Employers and plan service providers constantly face difficult technical
questions requiring skilled legal advice. The Ratliff Firm's employee
benefits attorneys provide the following services:
Design
and Administration of Qualified Plans
As an employer, you want to structure your qualified retirement plan to provide maximum value to employees at a reasonable cost to your business. Proper design and administration of your plan are critical to your objectives. Above all, you want to ensure that your plan satisfies the complex rules for tax qualification while preserving flexibility to respond to changing needs of your workforce.
The Ratliff Firm can provide comprehensive legal help for every aspect of your qualified plan. We have broad expertise in the design, administration, and restructuring of 401(k) and other defined contribution plans, traditional defined benefit plans, hybrid plans (such as cash-balance plans), ESOPs, and innovative approaches to plan design. Whether you are a large corporation, a tax-exempt entity, a state or local government, or an international organization, we can help you put a qualified plan into place and maintain compliance with the fast-changing tax and ERISA rules.
Our Services
Qualified Plan Design
Qualified Plan Administration
Transactions Affecting Qualified Plans
Representation
Before the IRS
Sponsoring and administering an employee benefit plan requires that you deal with the IRS. Whether you need a letter ruling on a technical issue, approval of a plan correction under EPCRS, or representation on an employee plans audit, you want skilled counsel at your side who know the key policymakers at the IRS.
At The Ratliff Firm, we constantly represent clients before the IRS in the most difficult employee benefits matters. Our lawyers have significant experience working with key personnel at the IRS, both in government service and in private practice.
Our Services
Representation at the IRS, both in the national office and in the field
Complying
with Title I of ERISA
Whether you are an employer sponsoring an employee benefit plan or a third-party plan service provider, you have to thread your way through the maze of Title I. You need to ensure that your plan is in compliance with ERISA's high fiduciary standards and its complex reporting and disclosure rules, and you need to defend your plan against participant lawsuits.
The Ratliff Firm provides the expert advice and critical representation that you need to comply with Title I. If you are a plan fiduciary, we can advise you on every aspect of your fiduciary obligations, including plan administration issues, investment issues, and compliance with the prohibited-transaction rules. If you are not a fiduciary, we can help you structure your operations to ensure that you do not become one. We bring our experience in Title I work to your advantage -- whether you look to us for a legal opinion on your Title I exposure, for representation before the Department of Labor on audit or on regulatory relief, or for counsel and representation in Title I litigation.
Our Services
Counseling
on Executive Compensation
The success of your business depends directly on the caliber of your executives. To attract and retain the very best management team, you have to offer your key employees a compensation package that delivers the most value while minimizing tax risks both for them and for your business.
The Ratliff Firm can help you with every aspect of your executive compensation arrangements. We routinely negotiate employment agreements, structure various forms of non qualified deferred compensation arrangements, and prepare equity-based compensation programs. We can help your business navigate the punitive tax rules for golden parachute payments and executive pay above the $1 million cap. And we can give you the critical advice you need to determine when an "innovative" compensation strategy exposes your business and your executives to unnecessary tax risks.
Our Services
Advising
on Health and Welfare Benefits
Every employer faces increasing regulatory burdens in providing even the simplest health and welfare benefits to its employees. From HIPAA to COBRA to new regulations for cafeteria plans and benefits claims procedures, the law becomes more complicated every year. You need expert advice to structure your benefits in a way that complies with the rules and takes advantage of the opportunities.
The Ratliff Firm can give you the advice that you need. We can help you sort through HIPAA and COBRA, work with you to structure your VEBA or section 401(h) account efficiently, and advise you on key ERISA concerns. We’ll help you stay on top of the legal developments in this fast-changing area and give you the tools you need to provide your employees the benefits they want.
Our Services
Representing
Tax-Exempt and Governmental Employers
As a tax-exempt or governmental employer, you face the same pressures to compete for high-caliber executives and other employees as for-profit employers. But when it comes to structuring deferred compensation and other benefits for your workforce, the tax laws impose additional constraints on you - and give you additional opportunities.
The Ratliff Firm can help you deal with the unique obstacles for tax-exempt and governmental employers and help you make the most of the additional vehicles available to you. We can advise you on every aspect of your employee benefits issues, from structuring your qualified defined benefit and defined contribution plans to implementing and administering a section 403(b) annuity arrangement or a section 457(b) plan to dealing with the constraints of section 457(f). Our experience advising tax-exempt organizations and state and local governments makes us particularly well positioned to understand the issues important to you and to help you work through the complex tax laws with which you must contend.
Our Services
Counseling
Financial Institutions and Service Providers
As a financial institution or other service provider in the retirement-savings market, you face intense competitive pressure to provide cutting-edge products and services without running afoul of complex tax and ERISA rules. Whether you provide qualified plans, 403(b) arrangements, 457 products, non qualified deferred compensation, IRAs, non qualified annuities, or life insurance, you need to be one step ahead of the competition - and on top of the latest thinking at the IRS, the Labor Department, and other government agencies.
The Ratliff Firm can help you meet the demands of your customers. We have counseled national plan service providers, insurance companies, and other financial institutions. We know your industry, and we know your issues. We can provide you with the edge you need to comply with today's regulatory environment and to compete in today's marketplace.
Our Services
Resolving
Employee Benefits Disputes
As employee benefits programs become more complex and creative, so too does the likelihood that disputes will arise. These disputes can range from issues of employment contract interpretation to eligibility and coverage issues pursuant to ERISA. When employee benefits disputes escalate, litigation may become the best means for resolving the issues.
Whether the ultimate solution is a pre-litigation settlement, arbitration, or trial, The Ratliff Firm attorneys have the experience you need. Our litigators have represented both employers and employees in such disputes. If you or your company becomes involved in a dispute over pension benefits, stock option plans, executive compensation agreements, employment contracts, non-competition agreements, or other employee benefits matter, we can help.
Our Services
If you or your company are involved in an employee benefits dispute, we can help. The Ratliff Firm attorneys are experienced in all aspects of such disputes.
