Monica A. Novak assists clients with a range of employee benefits matters, including health and welfare benefits, tax-qualified retirement plans and nonqualified plans. She routinely counsels clients regarding the design, implementation and administration of benefit plans to ensure consistency with plan terms and compliance with the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA requirements, as well as the requirements under Health Care Reform.
Employee Benefits
Monica assists clients with the design, implementation and administration of employee benefit plans and executive compensation arrangements, including:
- Health and welfare benefits
- Tax-qualified retirement plans
- Nonqualified deferred compensation plans
- Equity compensation plans
- Benefit integration in connection with corporate transactions and strategic growth.
Compliance
Monica routinely counsels clients on all aspects of benefit plans to help ensure consistency with plan terms and compliance with the requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, ERISA, the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA, COBRA and other federal laws. She assists clients in designing comprehensive employee benefit offerings, negotiating terms of employee benefit programs with third-party service providers, and communicating key features of employee benefit programs to employees and executives. Monica also counsels clients on correcting benefit plan compliance errors through the IRS employee plans compliance resolution system and the Department of Labor voluntary fiduciary correction program. She also helps clients respond to investigation requests from the IRS and the DOL.
More Legal and Business Bylines From Monica A. Novak
- Flexible Spending Account Relief in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 - (Posted On Wednesday, January 20, 2021)
- The GAO Reviews QDROs - (Posted On Thursday, November 12, 2020)
- Tenth Circuit Interpretation of ERISA Notice Requirement Impacts Plan Administrator’s Right to Deferential Standard of Review - (Posted On Wednesday, August 26, 2020)
- IRS Guidance on Employer-Based Leave Donation Programs for COVID-19 Relief Organizations - (Posted On Wednesday, June 24, 2020)
- IRS Increases the Health FSA Carryover Limit and Addresses Premium Reimbursement under ICHRAs - (Posted On Wednesday, May 20, 2020)
- COVID-19 Joint Agency Relief Part 1: ERISA Enforcement Relief for Retirement Plans - (Posted On Thursday, May 14, 2020)
- IRS Announces Limited Expansion of the Determination Letter Program for Individually Designed Plans - (Posted On Friday, May 17, 2019)
- Federal Court Rules United Behavioral Health Breached Fiduciary Duties in Denying Mental Health and Substance Use Coverage Claims - (Posted On Tuesday, April 09, 2019)
- Peterson v. UnitedHealth Group Inc. Challenges the Practice of Cross-Plan Offsetting - (Posted On Tuesday, April 09, 2019)
- Understanding the Excise Tax on Executive Compensation Paid by Tax-Exempt Organizations—Part III: Excess Remuneration, Excess Parachute Payments, and Excise Tax Reporting - (Posted On Thursday, February 28, 2019)
Faegre Drinker’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group is a National Law Review Go-To Thought Leader for their in-depth analysis of employer-sponsored retirement plans, health and welfare plans and executive compensation concerns. Topics addressed include executive compensation reporting changes, how rehiring employees could prevent partial plan terminations, and the tax implications and the pitfalls associated with excessive executive compensation paid by tax-exempt organizations. Additionally, Faegre Drinker provided valuable guidance to 401k Plan Sponsors regarding how to help employees during the COVID-19 pandemic under the provisions of the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act), including changes in participant loan repayments, available increases in loan amounts, and changes in hardship distribution rules. Regular contributors from Faegre Drinker’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group include; Bruce L. Ashton, Mona Ghude, Christine M. Kong, Elizabeth Olson, Monica Novak and Fred Reish.