Meant to increase the economic security of employees, employee benefits are non-wage compensations in addition to normal wages or salaries. Employee benefits could be in the form of health and dental plans; retirement benefit plans; group-term life and long-term-care insurance plans, legal assistance plans, adoption assistance, relocation assistance, child care benefits and miscellaneous employee discounts. The miscellaneous discounts may cover movies and theme park tickets, hotels and resorts, etc.

Some of these benefits, such as accident and health plans and group-term life insurance, may be excluded from the employee’s gross income and therefore exempt from federal income tax. Benefits provided by employers are normally tax-deductible to the employer and non-taxable to the employee. Among exceptions to this general rule are executive benefits like golden parachute plans.

ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) or employee benefits attorneys provide a great service to limit the liability of plan sponsors and help protect employees. An employee benefits attorney should be involved in any area of merger, acquisition or divestiture. In addition, whenever a company enacts an employee benefit plan, the involvement of such an attorney should be welcomed. In case a company excludes attorney review in their employee benefit plan implementation, it is wise to seek counsel and review those plan documents and procedures. An experienced ERISA attorney should review all aspects of any fiduciary decision that could impact plan qualification.

Such attorneys should also be retained for current qualified retirement plan issues like merging an existing Money Purchase Plan with an existing 401k Plan, providing investment advice to participants, and withdrawal liability from multi-employer pension plans. They should also be consulted on current welfare benefit plan issues like understanding ERISA compliance for companies with a third-party insurance agent or administrator, COBRA issues, and fiduciary insurance and bond review.

Sandals & Associates, P.C. has a practice concentrating in nationwide litigation involving employee and retiree benefits and pensions (ERISA), employment discrimination, Fair Labor Standards Act, antitrust, consumer protection, and class actions generally. Attorneys of the firm have had a leading role in many successful, precedent-setting cases in these fields on behalf of employee and consumer clients. Please visit their site at SandalsLaw.com for more information.

When you first meet with a personal injury lawyer in Philadelphia, there are many questions that you need to ask to make sure that you are getting all of the information you need to make an educated decision as to which lawyer to choose. The following questions are essential and some of the most important questions you need to ask on your first arranged meeting with your potential lawyer.

First and foremost, you should find out if this consultation is given free of charge. If they expect you to pay for the consultation, you will want to know before you getting the meeting so you can decide whether or not you want to continue before you end up having to pay something. If you wait until the consultation starts, it will be too late to pull out and you will be charged regardless if you knew of the cost or not. Be sure to ask this right as you sit down for the consultation with your Philadelphia personal injury lawyer.

The next question that should be address is about your rights. You should ask your lawyer point blank, what rights you have that require protection. If you have a good lawyer, they should be able to answer that question right away. If not, you should probably begin looking for a new, more knowledgeable lawyer.

Next, you should address the medical bills that you have. Find out who will be responsible for paying them. Obviously, if you are visiting a personal injury lawyer, it can be assumed that you have a significant amount of medical bills. You should find out exactly who will be paying your prescription and medical bills, lost income and wages, your pain and suffering, household help, and other bills.

Claim letters will also need to be sent and you want to know what insurance companies should be notified and who is responsible for doing this. Is it your responsibility or will the law firm handle this for you? Make sure you know this answer so you don’t run into problems.

These are just a few of the most important things that you will want to ask your attorney in the very first consultation. If you feel that the lawyer is knowledgeable and you feel comfortable, you probably have a pretty good lawyer that will do their best at representing you and your case.

Miller & Hauptman are full service lawyers who are qualified to handle all aspects of a legal problem, with a special focus on personal injury in Philadelphia and surrounding counties. No matter how complex the matter, one of their experienced and dedicated Philadelphia County personal injury attorneys is available to listen to your story and help resolve your problem.

Miller & Hauptman are a highly regarded Philadelphia area personal injury law firm and pride themselves on their creative legal thinking and on their determination to solve legal problems. With a deep understanding of the laws around personal injury in Philadelphia County, their attorneys have the experience and skill to advocate strongly and effectively on your behalf. If you are seeking personal injury attorneys in the Philadelphia area, contact Miller and Hauptman for a free initial consultation and evaluation of your case. If they represent you they will not charge you one penny until they recover fair compensation for you.

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