Employee Benefit Plans 2010

Employee benefit plans and the laws that govern them are inherently complex and constantly evolving. Add to the mix recent corporate scandals, major bankruptcies, and a volatile stock market, all resulting in billions of dollars in retirement plan losses, and it has never been more vital for in-house counsel and outside counsel for plan fiduciaries, sponsors, administrators, advisors and insurers to avoid poor or inconsistent drafting, design, implementation, and administration of employee benefit plans.

However, having good, accurate and consistent employee plan documents is vastly easier said than done. In keeping the language in employee benefit plans up to snuff, counsel for companies, plan fiduciaries, sponsors, administrators, advisors and insurers face a distinct uphill battle, including:

• Incomplete/missing/inconsistent documents
• Document provisions not aligning with actual plan administration
• Document slippage issues that arise when a plan s operating procedures and/or its administrative documents drift from the official plan document
• Improper delegation of decision-making authority