Practices and Industries Employee Benefits Employee Benefits Policy
Overview

Biographies

Our employee benefits policy practice provides strategic representation to clients before Congress and the federal agencies on health plan, retirement plan, executive compensation, and payroll practices.   In some cases we work on an issue at a discrete stage in the legislative process, e.g., obtaining clarifying committee report language; other times we will assist with an issue from the early phases of consideration by Congress through to the final rulemaking by the appropriate agency.  Throughout, we focus on helping our clients navigate the political process to best advance their companies’ business strategies and objectives. 

With respect to legislative matters, we typically provide clients with summaries and analysis of proposed legislation, draft legislative language, assist clients in developing policy positions and draft position papers, prepare testimony for congressional hearings, and represent clients during meetings with Congressional members or staff.   We also have experience managing and representing large coalitions of companies who choose to work together to advance a common goal on a specific issue.  Our lawyers have worked closely with the Senate Committees on Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions as well as the House Committees on Education and Labor, Ways and Means, and Energy and Commerce. 

Our employee benefits policy practice also assists clients with regulatory matters, particularly as the agencies are developing new guidance or policy positions.   To this end, we have provided written comments on proposed rulemaking, testified at public hearings, represented clients in meetings with agency staff, and worked to resolve specific issues of interpretation on behalf of our clients.  We have worked closely with the Department of Treasury, IRS, Department of Labor, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 

Members of this practice include attorneys with a variety of government/policy experience.  Our practice features a former Special Assistant for Fringe Benefits in the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (Employee Benefits and Exempt Organizations); a former Majority Tax Counsel for the House Committee on Ways & Means; and as the former Health Policy Legal Counsel for the American Benefits Council, among others.



Related Publications
Focus On Employee Benefits
Author(s): Anne Batter, Garrett Fenton, Thomas Cryan, Michael Lloyd, Susan Relland, Fred Oliphant

Tax Accounting & Employee Benefits Alert - Year-End Bonuses and the All Events Test: Time to Review
Author(s): James Atkinson, Anne Batter, Dwight Mersereau, Fred Oliphant

Focus On Employee Benefits
Author(s): Thomas Cryan, Susan Relland, Gary Quintiere, Veronica Rouse, Adrian Morchower

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