ERISA and Employee Benefits

2 Credit Hours

This course introduces the student to the legal and business aspects of employee benefit plans and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal law that regulates employee benefit plans in the US. Topics include: (A) What is an ERISA plan and ERISA preemption, (B) tax rules related to qualified retirement plans, (C) ERISA fiduciary duties, including company stock issues, ERISA "stock drop" cases and excessive fee cases, (E) ERISA rules related to private investment funds and basics of ERISA plan investments, (F) employee benefit matters in M&A, (G) the Affordable Care Act (and any "repeal and replace" legislation) and (H) an overview of multiemployer pension plans. I try to bring my 25 years of practice to the course to make it interesting and practical. Evaluation Methods: Final Examination.