Today's tough economic climate and skyrocketing health care and insurance costs have led many employers to identify and eliminate inefficiencies in their benefit programs for active and retired employees. Especially for retirees who were previously represented by labor unions, even small benefit modifications have been met with high stakes class action lawsuits under ERISA and the Labor Management Relations Act. An employer's financial liability for retiree health care benefits can be staggering, and controlling case law varies widely among the federal judicial circuits. Our attorneys have extensive experience defending our clients against these class action claims - potential liability for which often runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Our attorneys also have decades of experience proactively counseling and, when necessary, defending employers and their plans in various forms of class and individual ERISA and benefits litigation, including:

Our attorneys have successfully defended class actions spanning the legal spectrum in federal and state courts and in administrative proceedings. We have unparalleled expertise regionally in litigating class actions alleging age, race, gender, and other forms of employment discrimination. For three decades, our attorneys have successfully defended employers in some of the largest and most ground-breaking discrimination class actions in Michigan history.

• Claims for breach of fiduciary duty brought against plan fiduciaries under ERISA §409;
• Claims asserting that a discharge or other adverse action wrongfully interfered with ERISA-protected benefits, in violation of ERISA §510, a charge often joined with other claims challenging an employee's termination.
• Disputes over eligibility for pension benefits and computation of years of credited service.
• Claims alleging that plan administrators engaged in self-dealing, conflict of interest, or similar transactions prohibited by ERISA §406.
• Claims that a change in corporate structure or control triggered entitlement to severance benefits under a corporate severance policy.
• Claims often complementary to FLSA claims, asserting that the employer's improper classification and failure to pay overtime wrongfully diminished pension plan contributions or other benefit entitlements.
• Department of Labor penalty proceedings under ERISA §502(c)(2);
• Actions by multi-employer benefit plans to collect delinquent employer contributions.
• Disputes over whether independent contractors and other contingent workers are entitled to participate in benefit plans.
• Controversies regarding Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (SERP) benefits and other executive "golden parachute" and specialized executive compensation plans.
• Privacy issues under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
• Benefit continuation matters under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA).