The Spencer Fane Employee Benefits team provides group health and welfare plan sponsors and administrators with guidance on benefit plans that enhance employee recruitment and retention efforts and save employers from facing potentially costly audits and penalties.
Our attorneys can speak the technical language of the federal Tax Code and ERISA if needed, but more importantly, we translate those details into practical business advice when counseling human resources leaders and employee benefits specialists. In plain language, our attorneys present clients with benefits options and guide them to the solution that best meets the unique needs for their business or organization. Navigating employee benefits can be complex, but our attorneys handle the intricacies so that our clients can manage their benefit plans more easily.
The Employee Benefits team counsels human resources and employee benefits professionals from nearly all industries. Our attorneys advise clients on ongoing compliance related to their health and welfare benefits programs, including the facilitation of open enrollment periods, plan design changes, drafting communication materials and required notices, and filing governmental reports. We also help clients navigate one-off situations, ranging from day-to-day COBRA administration issues to determining obligations related to a HIPAA privacy or security breach.
We work with employers, third-party administrators, and insurers to explain changes in regulatory requirements, including potential cost-saving and efficiency opportunities created for their plans.
Representative Experience
- Represented a utility through a corporate merger, merging the health and welfare benefits of three companies into one ERISA plan for annual reporting purposes.
- Represented multiple employers that received IRS notices assessing tax penalties under the Affordable Care Act. Researched underlying facts that triggered the penalties, prepared response to IRS asserting why the penalty should be reduced or waived – results include penalties abated entirely or significantly reduced.
- Represented several trade associations in offering group health plans to members of their associations.