Employee Benefits

McGuireWoods’ employee benefits and executive compensation services span the spectrum of issues relating to retirement and compensation-related arrangements, including those intersecting M&A, private equity, fund formation, financing transactions and other critical areas of the law.

Representing industry leaders, Fortune 100 companies and start-ups, our clients include public companies and closely held businesses of all sizes. The team’s experience ranges from advising banks, insurers, third-party administrators and other benefit plan service providers to counseling tax-exempt organizations, including hospitals, trade associations and educational institutions.

How We Help

McGuireWoods handles employee benefits and compensation matters, including:

executive employment, retention, change in control and severance agreements;
equity, derivative equity, and short-term and long-term incentive compensation programs;
executive retirement and fringe benefits;
proxy and related executive compensation disclosures;
tax-qualifies retirement plans; 401(k), pensions, and traditional and cash-balance plans;
nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements;
employee stock ownership plans;
health and welfare programs: Wrap and Cafeteria plans, Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association plans and all component health arrangements;
severance arrangements; and
fiduciary education and advice.

Representative Experience

American energy company on all manner of employee benefits matters, including its qualified retirement plans, health and welfare plans, fiduciary matters, executive agreements, incentive plans and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements;
U.S. subsidiaries of a German automotive technology, parts and tire producer with over 35,000 U.S. employees on matters involving company-sponsored benefit plans, including plan design, compliance, funding, integration of acquired entities and legal and regulatory developments;
Large financial institution in engagements with key trade groups — such as Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), Bank Policy Institute and the Chamber of Commerce — on developing executive compensation regulation, novel pension plan de-risking strategy involving the spin-out and termination of a portion of its pension plan (total asset value of more than $20 billion) coupled with the rollover of pension plan surplus funds to fund retirement benefits under the institution’s 401(k) plan;
Retirement plan fiduciary committee for a large financial services company in of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) fiduciary matters related to its more than $40 billion 401(k) plan, one of the largest in the world;
Architectural services company on Code Section 1042 deferred tax rollover rules, ESOP plan and trust design and corollary agreements in its roughly $40 million sale of stock by the company’s current owners to an ESOP;
Multinational industrial company on proxy statement disclosures, equity compensation matters, corporate aircraft use, pension plan, and 401(k) plan documentary and operational compliance matters;
Multinational privately held materials company on ERISA fiduciary matters, 401(k) plan compliance, employee benefits governance structure implementation and termination of a defined benefit pension plan coupled with the implementation of defined contribution (qualified and nonqualified) replacement benefits; and
Leading multinational publicly traded beverage company on proxy disclosures, equity program matters, director compensation and nonqualified deferred compensation plan compliance matters.

McGuireWoods’ Employee Benefits Practice Group provides 360-degree counsel on the design, operation and compliance of executive compensation and benefits arrangements. The team is recognized for advising employers of all sizes, including companies with some of the largest retirement plans in the world.

Statewide rankings in North Carolina and Virginia for employee benefits and executive compensation.

– Chambers USA
Nationwide ranking for employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans; design and employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactions.

– The Legal 500 U.S.