Strategic Counsel For Workers At Every Organizational Level

Employee Benefits

Serving Retirement and Welfare Plans as Fund Counsel

The attorneys in Schuchat, Cook & Werner’s Employee Benefits Group represent jointly administered, collectively bargained Taft-Hartley and government sponsored retirement, welfare, vacation, training (JATC), and other benefit funds (“multiemployer plans”) in various capacities. Together, the attorneys in the Employee Benefits Group have more than 70 years of experience in the employee benefits field, serving as fund counsel and special benefits counsel for more than 50 retirement, welfare, and other multiemployer plans in Missouri and Illinois as well as several regional and national multiemployer plans.

Representing Taft-Hartley Benefit Plans

Employee benefits are governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Internal Revenue Code, COBRA, HIPAA/HITECH, the Pension Protection Act, the Affordable Care Act, the No Surprises Act, the Mental Health Parity & Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), the SECURE Act, SECURE 2.0, and other federal and state laws. The complex nature of these laws and related regulations require knowledgeable legal guidance. We assist our multiemployer plan clients in all aspects, from drafting plan documents to plan administration and litigation. We can help you to comply with existing and new laws regulating multiemployer plans and represent you before government agencies, such as the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC).

The attorneys in the Employee Benefits Group also serve as special benefits counsel in various capacities, including assisting with plan transactions, compliance issues, opinion letters, arbitration of deadlocked disputes between plan fiduciaries and as expert witnesses.

Representing Multiemployer Plan Fiduciaries

Our attorneys understand the issues that can arise from the operation of a multiemployer plan. We have experience in a wide range of disputes and transactions involving these plans including delinquent contribution claims, assessments of withdrawal liability and mass withdrawal liability, recovery of fund losses, resolving plan funding issues, subrogation, breach of fiduciary duty claims, negotiating service provider agreements, negotiating and implementing plan mergers and terminations, and responding to claims and appeals. We regularly advise clients on their responsibilities as benefit plan fiduciaries.