Todd Castleton

Restructured Retirement Benefits for Big Four Accounting Firm

• Advised a Big Four accounting firm concerning the restructuring of their entire retirement benefits program, including converting the accrual formula in its defined benefit plans from final average pay to cash balance, revising the defined contribution benefit for newly hired employees, creating a spin-off plan to house benefits for inactive employees, and coordinating the qualified benefits with supplemental nonqualified programs. Provided seven amended and restated coordinated plan documents and updated their accompanying summary plan descriptions

Qualified Retirement Plan Compliance and Administration

• Regularly advises plan sponsors and plan fiduciaries concerning day-to-day administration of their qualified retirement plans and maintaining their tax-qualified status, including making plan corrections, designing and adopting plan amendments, implementing myriad recent legislative changes and Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service implementing guidance, deciding participant benefit claims, managing controlled group issues and nondiscrimination testing and compliance, government reporting obligations, and participant communication strategies

Governmental Plan Audits and Correction Programs

• Represents companies facing governmental agency audits of or making corrections to the administration of their qualified retirement plans by the U.S. Department of Labor and Internal Revenue Service and negotiated resolution of those audits and related compliance statements

Fiduciary Governance

• Advises plan sponsors and plan fiduciaries concerning establishing best practices fiduciary governance structures and processes and advises fiduciary committees regarding their Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) fiduciary obligations

Employee Benefits in Mergers and Acquisitions

• Provides advice and practical strategies in scores of mergers and acquisition transactions concerning employee benefits issues, including initial due diligence, negotiation of deal terms, controlled group issues, and implementation, administration, correction, consolidation, termination, and liquidation of benefit programs following the transactions' close

Fiduciary Litigation

• Advises plan sponsors and fiduciaries concerning both pre-litigation and post-complaint strategies to minimize fiduciary liability related to participant benefit claims, investment and administrative fees paid by qualified retirement plans, use of forfeitures, as well as employer stock held for investment in those plans

Plan Services Providers

• Regularly negotiates contract terms with retirement plan service providers and investment managers to provide services to employee benefit plans and has experience advising providers to employee benefit plans concerning those services

Pension Derisking and Litigation

• Advises plan sponsors of multi-million dollar and billion dollar defined benefit plans in transferring qualified retirement plan benefit obligations to insurance providers and provides advice related to ongoing pension derisking litigation

Bankruptcy Claim on Behalf of Airline’s Pension Plan

• Provided advice and filed bankruptcy claim on behalf of fiduciary committee of major airline's pension plan seeking payment of pension contributions