Employee Benefits and Taft-Hartley Trusts

If you have a question involving legal representation of your trust fund and employee benefit plans, please contact Attorney Frank G. Locante at: fgl@previant.com or 414-223-0411.
The attorneys at The Previant Law Firm, S.C., provide a wide range of legal services to employee benefit plans that offer retirement, health, and other benefits to employees. Many of these benefit plans are governed by union-related trust funds. We serve as general counsel to the boards of trustees of a number of such trust funds throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri. The firm represents employee benefit plans ranging in asset size from two million dollars to five billion dollars in various capacities including: general counsel, litigation counsel, collections counsel, and welfare plan subrogation counsel.

• Representing jointly trusteed multi-employer retirement, health and welfare, 401(k), apprenticeship and training, vacation plans, and labor management cooperation funds.
• Designing, drafting, implementing and maintaining qualified pension and profit-sharing plans including 401(k) plans and complex defined benefit plans.
• Drafting trust agreements, plan bylaws and other trust and plan policies and procedures.
• Advising clients regarding health plans in connection with the Affordable Care Act, No Surprises Act, Consolidated Appropriations Act, Transparency Laws, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), ERISA, Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”).
• ERISA litigation including fiduciary liability claims, subrogation claims under medical plans and collection matters.
• Counseling on participant claims and appeals.
• Counseling fiduciaries on their duties and applicable standards of care.
• Drafting collective bargaining agreement provisions relating to employee benefit plans. Informing clients of law and regulation changes.
• Negotiating and drafting service contracts with third party administrators and other vendors.
• Negotiating and drafting investment management agreements for investment funding retirement plans and health plans.
• Preparation of Requests for Proposal for service provider searches.
• Representing clients in connection with Internal Revenue Service, Department of Labor and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation audits.
• Correction of plan errors through correction methods, such as the Internal Revenue Service voluntary compliance resolution and closing agreement programs.
• Mergers of welfare plans, and mergers and terminations of qualified retirement plans including obtaining approval of terminations from the Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
• Advising clients regarding their employee benefit programs in connection with mergers, including due diligence and contract negotiation and drafting.
• Aggressive use of lien notices and claims under the Wisconsin construction lien law.
• Assertion of bond claims.
• Negotiation of payment terms with delinquent employers within Department of Labor guidelines.
• Protection of fund claims in bankruptcy proceedings and execution of judgments.

If you have a question involving legal representation of your trust fund and employee benefit plans, please contact Attorney Frank G. Locante at: fgl@previant.com or 414-223-0411.