Avi Bernstein brings more than 25 years of experience to bear when working with public and private companies and nonprofit organizations on their employee benefits and executive compensation issues. He helps his clients design and administer a variety of plans—including qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, non-qualified deferred compensation plans, medical and disability plans, severance plans, incentive and equity compensation plans, cafeteria plans, health reimbursement account plans, and flexible spending account plans—while minimizing legal risks and administrative problems. Clients also rely on Avi to structure and negotiate executive/key employee compensation and benefits packages.
Additionally, Avi advises clients on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) 409A compliance issues for nonqualified plans and helps clients correct retirement plan qualification and fiduciary issues through the IRS and U.S. Department of Labor correction programs. In corporate mergers, acquisitions, and sales, Avi helps clients avoid employee benefits pitfalls and advises them on risk assessment, benefits mapping and matching, and post-merger integration.
Before joining Epstein Becker Green, Avi served for nearly a decade as in-house benefits counsel at a global insurance provider, focusing on issues related to the provider’s international employees and internal employee benefits plans. Prior to that role, he was an attorney at an international law firm, where he handled all aspects of employee benefits and executive compensation, and particularly retirement issues relating to qualified plans, both single employer and multiemployer. Earlier in his career, he performed human resources consulting for one of the Big 4 accounting firms and was involved in all facets of the firm’s employee benefits and ERISA practice.
