Joseph K. Urwitz
Subscribe to Joseph K. Urwitz's PostsJoseph (Joe) K. Urwitz focuses his practice on employee benefits, executive compensation and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) fiduciary matters. He advises clients on a wide range of issues, including fiduciary duties and prohibited transactions, employee benefit matters arising in mergers and acquisitions, benefits issues unique to nonprofit entities, deferred compensation arrangements, equity award and bonus plan design, employment and severance arrangements, and qualified plan work. Read Joe Urwitz's full bio.
Employers Need 2015 Year-End Planning to Meet Employee Reporting and Withholding Requirements
By McDermott Will & Emery and Joseph K. Urwitz on Dec 17, 2015
Posted In Benefit Controversies, Employment, Executive Compensation
To avoid tax reporting and withholding penalties as 2015 draws to a close, employers need to properly plan and check their reporting for employees under non-qualified deferred compensation, fringe benefits, health benefits or other remuneration. Year-end planning for employers is important, because employee information reporting, including both Form W-2 and the new Affordable Care Act...
Continue Reading
DOL Clarifies Fiduciary Duties for Defined Contribution Plan Sponsors Offering Annuity Contracts
By Brian Tiemann and Joseph K. Urwitz on Sep 1, 2015
Posted In Benefit Controversies, Employee Benefits, Fiduciary and Investment Issues, Retirement Plans
The availability of annuity options under defined contribution plans has increased in recent years due to the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution plans. The U.S. Department of Labor recently issued new guidance that clarifies the legal responsibilities for fiduciaries who select an annuity provider for a defined contribution plan. Read the full article.
Continue Reading
What Private Equity Funds Should Know About ERISA
By Joseph K. Urwitz on Aug 18, 2015
Posted In Employment, Fiduciary and Investment Issues
Managers of private equity funds who are responsible for investing the assets of a fund that holds plan assets are likely to be considered a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). ERISA imposes numerous duties on fiduciaries, and those who fail to meet ERISA’s standards may be personally...
Continue Reading
View From McDermott: DOL Re-Proposes Regulations to Expand ERISA ‘Fiduciary’ Definition
By Brian Tiemann and Joseph K. Urwitz on Jul 7, 2015
Posted In Retirement Plans
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed regulations on April 14, 2015 that would expand the types of investment advice covered by fiduciary protections under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the Code). The proposed regulations would require advisers to...
Continue Reading
Council of Institutional Investors Adopts Policy against Automatic Acceleration of Unvested Equity Awards on a Change in Control
By Andrew Liazos and Joseph K. Urwitz on Apr 10, 2015
Posted In Executive Compensation
On April 1, 2015, the Council of Institutional Investors (CII), a shareholder rights advocacy group, adopted a policy opposing the automatic vesting of unvested equity awards on a change in control at public companies. Companies have often provided for such “single-trigger” vesting to encourage executives and employees to work towards the completion of a sale...
Continue Reading
The Directed Trustee in the Post-Dudenhoeffer World
By Joseph K. Urwitz on Jan 22, 2015
Posted In Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Fiduciary and Investment Issues, Retirement Plans
Court cases challenging the actions of Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciaries have continued unabated since the scandal of Enron in 2002. Since then, a large number of cases are in the “stock drop” area, which encompasses cases relating to employer securities investments when the stock price drops severely. The litigation has focused on whether...
Continue Reading
Seventh Circuit: Plaintiffs Lacked Standing to Challenge Tax Exemption for Ministerial Rental Allowances
By Joseph K. Urwitz, Mary K. Samsa, Ralph E. DeJong and Todd Solomon on Dec 18, 2014
Posted In Employment
An appellate court recently issued a favorable ruling for religious employers in a closely watched case relating to the ability of religious employers to provide tax-fee housing allowances to ministers. The court overturned a district court decision declaring unconstitutional Internal Revenue Code Section 107(2), which excludes from gross income a rental allowance paid to a...
Continue Reading
New IRS Rules on Direct Rollovers of Taxable and Non-Taxable Amounts Require Changes to Defined Contribution Plan Administration By January 1, 2015
By Diane Morgenthaler, Joseph K. Urwitz and Maggie McTigue on Dec 10, 2014
Posted In Retirement Plans
The Internal Revenue Service recently released guidance allowing participants to allocate the taxable and non-taxable portions of a single distribution from a defined contribution retirement plan into separate accounts. Sponsors of defined contribution retirement plans should consider how their administrative practices and participant communications may need to be changed in light of these new rules....
Continue Reading
View From McDermott: What Private Equity and Hedge Funds (and Their Benefit Plan Investors) Should Know About ERISA
By Joseph K. Urwitz on May 28, 2014
Posted In Retirement Plans
ERISA imposes numerous obligations on fiduciaries holding assets of employee benefit plans. In addition to discharging its duties prudently and for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits to benefit plan participants and their beneficiaries, ERISA establishes other fiduciary obligations, including prohibiting fiduciaries from engaging in a variety of transactions with plan assets known as ‘‘prohibited...
Continue Reading
View From McDermott: Expanded In-Plan Conversion Opportunities Will Boost Roth 401(k) Balances
By Diane Morgenthaler and Joseph K. Urwitz on Apr 9, 2014
Posted In Retirement Plans
The number of defined contribution plans (including 401(k), 403(b) or 457(b) plans) with a Roth feature has grown significantly in recent years. Roth 401(k) is gaining popularity due in part to tax hedging or tax diversification strategies. Since the federal and state tax rates that apply at retirement are unknown, a participant can hedge future...
Continue Reading
