Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation

Years ago, employee benefits meant a paycheck and perhaps a simple pension.  Today, the scope and variety of benefits programs is staggering.  At Montgomery McCracken we advise employers and providers on the multitude of retirement and profit sharing plans, deferred compensation arrangements, employee stock ownership and stock option plans, insured and self-insured health and welfare plans and other fringe benefits available today.

We counsel our clients regarding:

• compliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
• the Internal Revenue Code and other applicable laws
• the design and redesign of their employee benefit plans
• the latest legal developments, benefits trends, and their ramifications

As the legal environment grows more and more complex, disputes inevitably arise.  Our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group couples substantive employee benefits experience with hands on litigation experience.  As a result, we represent our insured and self-insured clients in ERISA and employee benefits litigation, including ERISA fiduciary duty matters and benefits claims disputes.  When necessary, we draw on the talents of many of our other attorneys in the related areas of tax, labor and employment, corporate, health, education and nonprofit, and litigation to assist the lawyers in the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group.

Representative clients include:

• Celanese Americas Corporation
• SPS Technologies
• Hershey Entertainment & Resort Company
• Mack Trucks, Inc.
• Alco Industries, Inc.
• ArvinMeritor, Inc.
• LaSalle University
• ACE USA

We provide comprehensive, high-quality service tailored to meet the needs of each client.  We use our practical legal and business experience to acquire a distinctive understanding of each client's employee benefits goals and work closely with each client to accomplish those goals.

In recent years we have achieved significant results for our clients. Recent representative engagements include:

• advising international and multinational corporations listed on United States Stock Exchange, as well as other publicly traded and privately owned companies, with respect to mergers and acquisitions including representation before the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service;
• counseling human resource executives of major corporations throughout the Unites States on the day to day operation of employee benefit plans, legislative developments, regulatory changes, and employee communications regarding these issues;
• successfully represented the heavy truck manufacturer, Mack Trucks, Inc., in an ERISA pension discrimination action brought by former employees who claimed that the company wrongfully refused to rehire them based on their previously earned pension credit under the company's pension plan; had the company rehired the former employees, its unfunded pension liability would have soared; Montgomery McCracken obtained a complete victory before the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals and created new ERISA law that job applicants do not have an ERISA protected right to future benefits;
• successfully represented an investment management firm in ERISA litigation against the U.S. Department of Labor which alleged that the investment management firm had committed ERISA fiduciary violations and ERISA prohibited transactions based on the firm's advice to the trustees of an employee stock ownership plan; Montgomrery McCracken obtained a complete victory before the District Court on summary judgement;
• representing insured and self-insured employers in ERISA Litigation where participants claimed pension, severance, disability, or health and welfare benefits;
• advising employers in matters involving appropriate benefits claims procedures designed to avoid claims litigation, their employee benefit plans' continued compliance with the changing regulatory environment, and on day-to-day pension and welfare plan administration;
• advising clients in corporate dissolutions, mergers, and reorganizations that involve plan mergers, transfer of plan assets, and multiemployer plan contributions and withdrawal liability.

The Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group looks forward to working with you. You can contact Gregory J. Fox, Chair of the group, at 215-772-7528 or gfox@mmwr.com.