• Home
• Practice Areas
• Business Law & Litigation
• ERISA

ERISA

The New Jersey ERISA lawyers at Helmer, Conley & Kasselman, P.A. can help employers, self-insured and otherwise, with regulatory compliance and management of their employee benefit plans, and assist plan fiduciaries with regulatory issues under ERISA, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

Understanding the Laws

When enacted, the law’s main purpose was to protect pensions, but its regulatory mandates have become central to the management of health insurance and employer-sponsored health plans. Helmer, Conley & Kasselman’s ERISA lawyers can help employers and plan sponsors understand the regulatory standards established by the regulation and how its remedial provisions ensuring the law of trusts, with its fiduciary obligations, apply to the administration of pension and benefit plans.

ERISA governs both insured coverage arrangements in which a health benefit plan buys a group health insurance product, as well as self-insured health benefit plans in which the employer retains the financial risk of loss. Our lawyers help employers and plan sponsors navigate ERISA’s powerful preemptive effect on state laws related to health insurance and prevent violations caused by health plan administrators.

ERISA governs all “employee welfare benefit plans,” including any plan, fund, or program that is established or maintained by an employer or by an employee organization for the purpose of providing for its participants or their beneficiaries welfare plans (medical, surgical or hospital care, or benefits in the event of sickness, accident, disability or death) and exempted plans (public employee plans, plans for church employees, workers compensation, unemployment compensation, or disability insurance).

Help with ERISA Compliance

ERISA does not require employers to establish either a pension or health and welfare plan; but, if an employer chooses to establish a pension or health and welfare plan, then the plan is governed by ERISA. Compliance with the law’s guidelines can be a daunting task for employers and benefit plan sponsors. Helmer, Conley & Kasselman’s lawyers fully understand the law’s strict requirements for pension plans related to eligibility, participation, funding, vesting, and management. Recently, employee benefit plans have come under increased scrutiny from plan participants as well as the regulatory agencies charged with benefit oversight and applying compliance standards.

With this increased scrutiny, employers and plan sponsors must be diligent in complying with ERISA’s guidelines. Thus, it is important that employers and plan sponsors hire a lawyer with the proper expertise to guide them through this process. Our lawyers will diligently review your benefit plan to ensure that it complies with strict regulatory guidelines and that it also benefits the employer and plan sponsor, as well as the plan participants and their beneficiaries. The interests of the plan fiduciaries, participants and beneficiaries are paramount, and any decision regarding the plan’s administration must limit the employer’s and plan sponsor’s liability, while at the same time maximizing the participant’s benefit utilization under the plan.

Hire Experienced ERISA Lawyers

The ERISA lawyers at Helmer, Conley & Kasselman can assist you with limiting the liability of employers and plan sponsors, and helping to protect plan participants and their beneficiaries. We can help self-insured employers meet their fiduciary duties and ensure that their plans meet strict guidelines. Contact Helmer, Conley & Kasselman, P.A. today at 856-547-7888. Call Us – Problem Solved.