LAW 337 - Employee Benefits and ERISA

This course will provide an overview of the area of Employee Benefit Law and the Federal law applicable to the same including ERISA, COBRA and tax law. Employee Benefit Law is a practice area of significant importance to corporations, insurance companies, labor unions, plan administrators, law firms, benefit consulting firms and employees and their family members. The course will cover employer provided benefit plans including health insurance, traditional pension and defined benefits plans such as 401(k)s, cafeteria plans and others. The course will cover topics including vesting, nondiscrimination provisions, disclosure requirements, reporting requirements, notice requirements, fiduciary rules and duties and spousal rights. The course will also examine the impact of employee benefit law as well as ERISA on other practice areas including employment law, health law, labor law, tax law, divorce, corporate mergers/acquisitions, bankruptcy and specialized litigation. There is no prerequisite for this course. The class will be graded by final exam (70%), classroom assignments (23%), and class participation (7%).