Pension and Employment

Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman LLP provides retirement and tax planning advice to more than 200 tax-qualified retirement plans. We advise family businesses, professionals, corporations, cities, and towns (some of which have plans with assets exceeding $100 million) on the implementation, documentation and legal compliance of health, dental, life insurance, and cafeteria plans. We also provide our clients with a wide range of employment law services, including advice regarding hiring practices and employment termination, preparation of employment contracts and personnel manuals and representation in employment disputes before administrative agencies and in the courts.

Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman LLP counsels businesses, professionals, cities and towns, and individuals on a wide range of pension and employee benefits matters. Our attorneys assist in all aspects of designing, drafting, implementing and administering tax-qualified retirement plans, cafeteria and fringe benefit plans and non-qualified deferred compensations arrangements. We also advise clients who contract with the federal and state governments on the special compliance issues that arise in their businesses. In addition to serving our clients' day-to-day needs, our employee benefits attorneys work closely with our corporate, tax and real estate attorneys on ERISA aspects of the firm's transactional practice.

Our attorneys bring a practical and business-sensitive approach to the complex and rapidly-changing area of employee benefits. We help clients achieve their economic goals within the bounds of this regulatory structure. Because of the firm's historic focus on family businesses and entrepreneurs, our attorneys are particularly experienced in developing innovative strategies to maximize allowable contributions for highly-compensated employees and business owners. We also have experience developing non-qualified executive benefit plans.

Our pension and employee benefits practice includes:

• Preparing plan documents for tax qualified plans suitable for many small and family businesses, including obtaining Internal Revenue Service approval for these plans

• Advising plan trustees regarding fiduciary duties, including the prohibited transaction rules and plan asset valuation requirements

• Assisting clients in developing employee communications concerning benefits

• Helping clients to develop severance programs and comply with plant closing laws

• Advising clients on COBRA and HIPAA compliance

• Analyzing, developing and implementing Section 403(b) and Section 457 arrangements for tax-exempt and government clients

• Working with clients to develop or review contracts with third-party administrators

• Assisting clients in interacting with the US Department of Labor

• Representing government contract clients before the Federal and State Departments of Labor during audits checking compliance with state prevailing wage laws and the Davis Bacon Act