Public and private employers turn to attorney Heather Stone Fletcher for guidance on compliance and regulatory matters affecting employee benefit plans and executive compensation.
Heather advises employers on the design, implementation, and operation of their employee benefit programs, including qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and executive compensation arrangements.
When a client contemplates a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or other corporate transaction or event, Heather provides advice regarding risk assessments, plan mergers and terminations, establishing new benefit platforms, and other employee benefits issues that can arise. She also has extensive experience advising employers with unionized workforces and fiduciaries regarding collectively bargained retirement and welfare plans, including withdrawal liability issues.
Heather represents clients in matters before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, such as government audits, corrective filings under the IRS and DOL correction programs, and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) investigations.
Heather’s experience also includes:
- providing advice concerning compliance with the reporting, fiduciary responsibility, and prohibited transactions requirements of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), including fiduciary education and training;
- assisting clients with the formation and structure of benefit and investment committees, and advising such committees regarding fiduciary responsibilities, plan administration, and litigation risk;
- negotiating third-party service provider agreements, including recordkeeping agreements and investment manager/independent fiduciary agreements on behalf of employers;
- providing advice on pension liability management and de-risking options;
- providing advice regarding HIPAA breaches and compliance, including the drafting of policies and procedures, as well as negotiation of business associate agreements and training;
- advising clients regarding compliance with the Affordable Care Act, including health care reporting requirements and plan design issues;
- assisting employers with resolving issues in their non-qualified deferred compensation plans under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Sections 457 and 409A;
- obtaining advisory opinion letters and private letter rulings, as well as tax-exempt status for entities;
- consulting on income and payroll tax reporting and withholding obligations;
- submitting comments on behalf of clients to government agencies regarding regulations and other agency guidance;
- assisting clients with issues related to employee leasing and professional employer organizations;
- advising governmental and church plan clients regarding their unique obligations under the IRC and ERISA; and
- drafting employment agreements.
Before joining Epstein Becker Green, Heather was a partner at a national law firm, where she focused on employee benefits, executive compensation, and tax law, and served as that firm’s Chair of Lateral Integration and a member of that firm’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council.
