Shumaker's experienced employee benefits attorneys provide legal services to a wide range of employers, including large corporations and small businesses. They work directly with clients' HR and benefits staff on daily matters and special projects. The attorneys can address all aspects of clients' compensation and benefits programs, including executive pay, retirement plans, health plans, compliance issues, and litigation defense. They represent both for-profit and non-profit organizations.

1. EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION & BENEFITS PRACTICE
Shumaker’s experienced and accomplished team of employee benefits attorneys provide employee
benefits services to a wide range of employers, including both national and multi-national businesses.
Our clients include large and small public companies, private companies, family businesses, professional
corporations, tax-exempt organizations (including not-for profit entities, educational institutions and hospitals)
and benefit service providers (such as third-party administrators and banks).
We work directly with our clients’ human resources, benefits and employee relations staff, often on a daily
basis, participating in benefits and executive compensation projects as part of the client’s benefits and
compensation teams. We also represent benefit plan fiduciaries and financial services providers, along with
several Taft-Hartley funds with their specialized issues under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974 (“ERISA”).
The attorneys in the employee compensation and benefits practice draw on the experience and expertise
of the firm’s corporate, labor and employment, tax, health law and litigation groups. Our goal is to address
all aspects of our client’s needs, and respond comprehensively to both the day-to-day and the long-term
operations of each client.
Shumaker’s attorneys in the employee compensation and benefits practice provide employers with a
package of legal services for their employee benefits and compensation programs, including:
Executive Compensation
• Preparing and negotiating executive employment agreements, incentive compensation
and separation agreements.
• Designing and documenting Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans, excess benefit plans and
non-qualified deferred compensation programs, including bringing these plans into
compliance with Code section 409A.
• Designing and implementing stock option plans and other equity compensation plans, including
securities law compliance issues.
• Designing early retirement incentives in both qualified and nonqualified arrangements.

2. Retirement Plans
• Preparing and updating defined benefit pension and 401(k) savings plan documents for
constantly-changing federal legislation and Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) regulations.
• Participating in the review of 401(k) plan investment options and assisting employers or plan fiduciaries with
replacement of these options when advisable.
• Obtaining IRS rulings on the continued tax-qualified status of these plans, and preparing and implementing
retirement plan terminations through the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) and the IRS.
• Designing and implementing retirement benefits for governmental and not-for-profit employers, including
plans under Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) sections 403(b) and 457, and advising on the
rapidly-changing rules that apply to plans.
• Preparing Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) filings for defined benefit
pensionplans(including plan terminations, reportable events filings and ERISA information filings) and,
where necessary, negotiations with the PBGC.
• Assisting with multiemployer pension plan issues, including withdrawal liability assessments.
Health and Welfare Plans
• Consulting on the design of group health and welfare plans, including Code section 125 cafeteria plans
and consumer-oriented medical benefit plans.
• Advising on discrimination issues in self-insured benefits under the Code and ERISA, and state mandates on
employer-sponsored benefits.
• Assisting with compliance with federal privacy and security rules relating to health information under the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”).
• Advising corporate benefits staff and third-party administrators on compliance with continuation coverage for
medical benefits (often called “COBRA rights”), Medicare secondary compliance and subrogation issues for
self-insured welfare benefit plans.
Fiduciary and Operational Compliance
• Handling DOL and IRS audits of all types of retirement and welfare benefit plans.
• Obtaining plan compliance relief for operational and documentary problems under the IRS and DOL
voluntary correction programs.
• Preparing and updating summary plan descriptions, required annual notices and other employee
communications materials.
• Advising on mutual fund regulation and securities law issues related to retirement plan investments.
• Advising and implementing retirement plan mergers and spin-offs, including coordinating with the plan
trustees and recordkeepers on mapping of investments and blackout notices, and coordinating with the
plan actuaries on IRS and PBGC filings for defined benefit pension plans.
• Negotiating employee benefit plan issues in business acquisitions and divestitures (including transfers of
401(k) plans and pension plans to successor employers).
• Assisting clients with internal appeals under health, disability and retirement plans.
• Defending ERISA claims relating to fiduciary breaches and prohibited transactions.
• Consulting on the impact of discrimination laws, including HIPAA, the Family and Medical Leave Act of
1993 (“FMLA”), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (“ADA”).

3. We also are called on for special projects in the benefits area, such as
consulting on leveraged employee stock ownership plans (“ESOPs”), adding
ESOP features to existing 401(k) plans, and advising on bankruptcy law issues
(including modification to retiree health plans).
Litigation
Because of the recent considerable growth in litigation involving administration of pension and welfare
plans, the firm has a number of litigators who have extensive experience in ERISA-related benefits litigation.
Our litigation experience in this area includes defense of class actions by plan participants, defense and
prosecution of breach of fiduciary claims under ERISA, and collection of
contributions for multiemployer plans.
Representative Clients
Dana Corporation
Fenner Dunlop (US operations)
Cooper Tire and Rubber Co.
21st Century Oncology/Radiation Therapy Services
Affinia Group (dba Wix Filtration)
Mercy Health Systems/St. Vincents Hospital
Sun Hydraulics Corporation
Spartan Chemical Corp.
Crown Equipment Corporation
Faurecia
WJ Communications
Poggemeyer Design Group (multi-state engineering firm)
Exco Technologies (US operations)
Toledo Area Construction Works Health and Welfare Fund
Louisiana Carpenters Pension and Health & Welfare Funds
C H AR L O T T E C O L U M B U S S AR AS O T A T AM PA T O L E D O
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