Employee Benefits

Minnesota public and private companies alike—from large corporations and fast-growing start-ups to professional firms and nonprofits—count on Maslon attorneys for their most important, complex and time-sensitive benefits and compensation challenges. They like the agility and accessibility of our highly experienced professionals.

When dealing with benefits planning, operations and compliance issues, employers and executive employees value Maslon's ability to make even the most complex challenges understandable and actionable. We offer timely, practical solutions for a full spectrum of benefits needs: from general counseling and plan design to maximizing tax benefits for key employees; from curing a plan's defects under tax laws and ERISA to resolving disputes with government agencies.

You'll have easy access to experienced professionals who know the intricacies of varied retirement, health and welfare, and deferred incentive plans, and will provide plain-language memos and plan documents in custom-designed or prototype format. Our attorneys regularly assist employers, retiring or terminated employees, benefit consultants, actuaries, trustees, and third-party administrators with the following services:

Retirement Plans

• 401(k) plans
• Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
• Profit sharing plans
• Money purchase pension plans
• 403(b) plans for certain tax-exempt employers
• 457 plans for certain tax-exempt and government employers
• Defined benefit pension plans, including "cash balance plans"
• "Cross-tested" qualified plans providing extra benefits for key employees

Health and Welfare Plans

• "Cafeteria plans" that include pre-tax health premium, medical reimbursement, dependent care and adoption benefits
• Health plans (both insured and self-insured)
• "Wrap-around" welfare plans that minimize government reporting
• COBRA, HIPAA, FMLA and USERRA compliance
• Severance pay plans
• Short-term and long-term disability plans
• Tax-saving trusts for voluntary employee beneficiary associations ("VEBAs")
• New employer-funded Health Reimbursement Accounts

Deferred Incentive Plans

• "Phantom stock" and stock appreciation rights plans