Compensation & Benefits

Wildman Harrold’s Compensation & Benefits Practice provides traditional executive compensation and employee benefits counseling to a full range of private and publicly held corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies and not-for-profit clients.

Executive Compensation - Executive compensation is a complex area involving securities, tax, accounting and employment statutes, agency rules and regulations. Wildman Harrold’s focus is on understanding an executive compensation matter's impact on the entire organization and its shareholders and providing practical advice in a language that different individuals within the organization understand. Our private equity and investment fund client base keeps us at the forefront of executive compensation design and compliance issues. Our work in this area includes advising clients in the design and implementation of executive employment and severance agreements; preparing performance related incentive programs, including annual bonus, performance unit and performance share plans; consulting with clients and implementing stock-related long-term incentive programs, including non-qualified stock options, incentive stock options, stock appreciation rights, phantom stock and restricted stock; drafting various benefit-related devices, including non-qualified deferred compensation plans, excess benefit plans, supplemental executive benefit plans, golden parachutes; golden handcuffs and integrating executive compensation arrangements with applicable tax, accounting, estate planning and securities law issues.

Retirement Plans - Our employee benefits attorneys counsel many employers in the design, drafting, compliance and administration of qualified pension plans, including cash balance plans, ESOPs, tax-sheltered annuities and more traditional defined contribution and defined benefit programs such as 401(k) profit sharing plans. Our advice may involve issues under ERISA, federal and state tax laws, securities law, or recently enacted laws and regulations.

Welfare Benefit Plans - Our attorneys work extensively with a large number of different welfare benefit programs, including cafeteria plans, group health and medical plans, medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts, medical plans for retired employees, severance programs, disability, and life insurance arrangements. We regularly advise clients regarding their obligations under COBRA, FMLA, ADEA and HIPAA.

Fiduciary Duty - Our attorneys counsel clients on matters involving ERISA’s fiduciary duty including matters related to prohibited transactions, exemptions and liability. Our attorneys regularly advise employers, plan administrators, trustees, investment managers and other plan fiduciaries regarding their duty and techniques for allocating responsibility and limiting liability. We are often called upon to review compliance matters and service provider issues.

Pension Plans As Investors - Due to our large private equity practice, our employee benefit attorneys are often involved in advising private equity, venture capital, real estate investment trusts, and other investment funds regarding the acceptance of ERISA plan money. This advice deals with reporting and disclosure, possible prohibited transactions, the availability of class exemptions, compliance with the “venture capital operating company” or the “real estate operating company” rules and exceptions under the DOL plan asset regulations.

Employment Matters - In conjunction with compensation and benefits services we regularly advise clients in employment and labor-related matters, including review of employee handbooks and manuals, transaction-related due diligence, employment discrimination and affirmative action representation, and advice regarding traditional labor matters and compliance with labor and employment laws.