ERISA law is the short name for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, established in 1974 to protect the best interest of private employees in the USA. This act contains the necessary benefit plans that should be provided by private organizations. You’ll find guidelines about the pension plan, disability insurance, health and life insurance, etc., in this act.
ERISA lawyers come to the scene if your employer doesn’t want to provide you with the benefit or information about it after your retirement or an accident. They help you receive your right from the employer by presenting you in front of federal councils.
Besides handling ERISA issues, most ERISA attorneys work with other laws related to jobs and employment.
What does an ERISA Attorney Do?
In a word, ERISA attorneys handle everything regarding ERISA law to protect the best interest of their clients. Let’s elaborate a bit.
Checking the Plan
The first thing they can do for you is to check the benefit plan covered by your employer. This helps them understand your rights so they can understand what you are deprived of.
Assessing the Evidence
When you describe your situation to attorneys, they assess your situation and evidence to make sure that your best interest is not being served by the employer. Evidence is important to prove your employer’s fault.
Negotiating with The Employer
In most cases, your employer also appoints an ERISA attorney. Your attorney tries to fix it through negotiation, which is the easiest and simplest way.
In the negotiation, your appointed attorney can discuss the rights you’re eligible for and protect you from their wrongful claims.
Submitting an Appeal
If the negotiation is unsuccessful, the attorney drafts an appeal letter including all the supporting evidence and sends it to the organization to keep things lawful.
This is the first legal action taken from your side to receive your rights. The letter typically contains the reasons to change the benefit denial decision and provide you with the promised rights.
Going to Federal Court
If your employer doesn’t offer your rights even after receiving the appeal letter, your attorney helps you go to court and ask if the benefit denial decision is wrong. Here they represent you in court and ask for the benefits as well as the attorney fee and other costs regarding the case.
Calculating Your Benefits
If you think your benefit is calculated wrong by the employer and need a recheck, you can go to an ERISA lawyer. They can help you by calculating your benefit according to the law and deciding whether it is done wrong.
Besides the above, ERISA attorneys work on other issues regarding ERISA and related laws. Also, they work for the employer side in many cases. In this role, their duty is to help an employer understand the benefits of the employees, calculate them, and protect if any employee claims benefit under ERISA or related laws.
Common Issues that ERISA Lawyers Handle
ERISA lawyers handle everything regarding ERISA and other related laws. The most common issues they handle are-
- Defined benefit pension plans
- Profit-sharing plans
- 401(k)
- Davis-Bacon Plans
- Multi-employer plans
- ESOPs
- Voluntary employees’ beneficiary associations (VEBAs)
- Prototype and other preapproved plans
- Qualified domestic relations orders
- Qualified and nonqualified deferred compensation programs
- Qualified medical child support orders
- Group medical and health plans (including ACA, HIPAA, and COBRA)
- ERISA litigation
But these are not the only issues in which they can help an employee. You’ll find many experienced lawyers and law firms who can also aid you in unique situations.
You need to hire the best lawyer or law firm to receive the best benefit.
How to Find the Best ERISA Lawyer?
Getting the best lawyer for ERISA and other employee acts is very important as your long-term employee benefit is associated with the case. The problem is, reaching the best is a bit lengthy task.
Like most others, you can ask someone for a recommendation and pick the recommended lawyer. But spending time and effort on it can take you to the best option. If you want to put some effort into picking the best lawyer, try the process below.
Step 1- Look for Recommendations
You’ll look for recommendations in this process, just like anyone else. But you should aim to list at least 12-15 names.
For this, look for suggestions from retired people around you, maybe someone within your family, friends, or neighbors. Search engines can suggest a bunch of lawyers or law firms around you working on such cases.
Recommendations can also be collected from your local bar counsel. If you know a lawyer practicing in a different field, you can ask them to recommend someone too.
Thus, collect recommendations to make a list.
Step 2- Evaluate the Options
After collecting some recommendations, it’s time to evaluate the options in your list.
The best approach to do this is through online research. Every lawyer or law firm owns a website or social media page nowadays. You should look for their online presence and check their certifications, expertise, types of cases they work on, experience with similar cases, and other available information.
Also, look for their ratings and reviews available on service review websites. This would help you understand their compatibility, relation with clients, way of work, and many other things.
Thus, this step lets you get an overview of the options in your list. Based on the overview, rank them and pick the top 4-5 options for the next step.
Step 3- Direct Discussion
Now you have some of the most compatible lawyers and firms to help you with such a situation. It’s time to talk to them directly.
Most firms and attorneys offer a free or low-fee consultation session if it is the first meeting. Take this opportunity and make an appointment with them.
In the meeting, describe your situation and ask them about your possible next step. Focus on their approach toward your situation. Also, ask questions about a similar case handled recently, the result of that case, their fee, and other important things.
The discussion lets you understand their communication skills, how they treat clients, and many other aspects. Based on everything, rank them and choose the best option.
Step 4- Discussion and Confirmation
Discuss the top pick and confirm that you want to hire them.
Questions to Ask ERISA Lawyers
In step 3, when you meet the lawyers face to face, you must ask some questions to understand your situation, their approach toward it, and the possible cost of the case. Some of those questions are-
Is ERISA law applicable in my case?
After describing your situation, you must ask this question. This would help you understand the law and the way it is applicable in your case. Sometimes, you might not be eligible for ERISA law support. In such a case, ask what you can do to protect your right.
What can be our next step?
This question helps you to understand their approach toward the situation. Some lawyers suggest going for a lawsuit directly, whereas others may suggest trying to negotiate with the employer first.
Going for negotiation is always recommended. You can use a legal approach if the negotiation fails to protect your rights.
Did you handle a similar case before?
Cases might be different in several aspects. So, there is a chance that the attorney has never faced a case exactly similar to yours. Asking this question makes it clear. If they claim to handle a similar case before, ask them about their approach and the result.
What can be the possible outcome of my case?
Everyone is interested in the possible outcome of their case. Similarly, you’re interested in it too. Don’t hesitate to ask such questions. This question would make the lawyer rethink your situation and develop a more insightful answer.
How much do you ask as a fee?
Knowing the fee is important as it is a crucial factor to hire someone. Though your employer bears the cost if you win in most situations, you’ll have to pay it if you lose. So, ask about their fee and how they charge it.
I’ll discuss the ERISA lawyer fee later.
Are unwritten plans included in ERISA?
Some unwritten plans are counted in ERISA, and some are not. It varies based on several factors. Ask about this to the lawyer to see what can happen in your case. I’d suggest not expecting any unwritten plans to be included in your favor.
How Much Do ERISA Attorneys Cost?
The cost of hiring an ERISA attorney is an important discussion as it has a crucial impact on the decision.
As these cases include the recovery of money, most attorneys can ask for a contingency fee. In this structure, they’ll only take a percentage of money as a fee if you win the case. They won’t claim any fee if they can’t win it for you.
The typical range of fees is 30%-40% of the amount you receive. The actual amount varies based on the attorney’s experience, your case’s complexity, and many other issues.
Some attorneys may ask for an hourly fee. In this case, they keep track of the number of hours they spend on your case. You’ll have to pay them monthly or after the case is closed- depending on your discussion about fee.
The typical hourly rate of ERISA cases is around $200-$400. Just like the previous option, it is dependent on several factors.
In most cases, a contingency plan is the most feasible option. It gives you the security that you won’t have to spend money if you don’t receive it.
However, you have the scope to claim attorney fees besides your rightful benefits. So, if your claim is strong enough, you can pick the best lawyer without considering the fee. If you win, it’ll be covered by your employer.
When Should You Go to ERISA Lawyers?
The most common scenario people go to ERISA lawyers is when the employer doesn’t want to provide the lawful benefits. If you encounter such a case, you should go to a lawyer who handles such issues.
Also, if you think the benefit is calculated wrong, you need to contact a lawyer to know the right amount. In case you see a lack of compensation for your ERISA claim, and the employer doesn’t want to compensate more, you can go to a lawyer.
Sometimes, you may not understand the exact right and benefit you should expect from the lawyer. As legal terms are a bit complex, not understanding them is normal. You can take the help of a lawyer in such cases too.
These are the common scenarios for hiring an ERISA lawyer. However, the situations are not limited to these few. Whenever you face an issue regarding your benefits from the employer, you should contact an ERISA lawyer and discuss the situation.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How much experience is enough to hire an ERISA attorney?
Hiring someone with 1-2 years of experience practicing this law in court is good enough if you want a good result. But the more experience the lawyer has, the more chance you have to win.
While hiring someone with long experience, try to select someone who has worked with a similar case to yours. This would make you more confident.
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Can lawyers help me with short-term benefits too?
Yes, you can hire lawyers to help you with short-term benefits too. Like long-term benefits, you can appeal and sue for short-term benefits, and lawyers can help you.
So, don’t hesitate if you’re looking to receive your short-term ERISA benefits. Law has got your back for it.
What if I lose the case?
Law is established to bring you the best benefit from ERISA cases. So, you have a strong scope to win if your evidence and paperwork are legit.
But if you lose the case, you can’t receive the expected benefit from the employer. Also, you’ll have to pay the lawyer’s fee on your own if you don’t follow the contingency payment plan.
Can I handle my ERISA case by myself?
Like other cases, the court may allow you to handle your ERISA case alone. However, this is not a good approach.
Firstly, you may not have a clear understanding of all the terms and conditions of the law. Thus, you’d have to struggle a lot to handle the case. In addition to that, the employer’s appointed lawyer knows how to utilize tricks to defeat you in the case. You won’t be able to identify those tricks.
Having a lawyer would help you go through the case much more smoother.