Working from the Birmingham office, Ms. Powers represents employers in all aspects of executive compensation and employee plans matters, including the design and administration of qualified retirement plans, health and welfare benefit plans, and non-qualified executive compensation and equity plans. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Employee Benefits Law at the University of Alabama's Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law.
Ms. Powers focuses heavily on issues related to controlled and affiliated service groups of employers. She helps create solutions for benefits issues that arise in complicated organizational structures, such as nondiscrimination testing, QSLOB filings, and MEWA analysis. She has significant experience representing third party administrators (TPAs) and employers with respect to administrative service agreements and ERISA compliance. Her practice includes employers in a variety of industries, with a focus on health care, manufacturing, and REITs.
Because nearly every business is impacted by health care reform, Ms. Powers spends significant time helping employers address compliance issues and business realignment in the wake of the Affordable Care Act. Ms. Powers is a frequent speaker and commentator on health care reform issues where she applies a practical business-like approach to compliance. She believes that it is essential to understand the client's business in order to provide useful guidance. To better grasp the issues facing her clients Ms. Powers provides no-fee in-person consultations and keeps up to date by monitoring trade and industry news and legislation.
Her practice includes advising employers and others on ERISA fiduciary compliance issues. She represents clients in IRS and U.S. Department of Labor audits and investigations, as well as pursuing corrections under EPCRS and VFCP.
She oversees the design and implementation of equity and synthetic (phantom) equity programs to compensate executives in both established and startup companies. She routinely works with buyers and sellers to coordinate benefits issues in mergers and acquisitions, including retirement plan mergers, change of control payments and mid-year health plan issues. Ms. Powers also provides counsel with respect to executive compensation issues, including IRC §§ 409A, 162(m) and 280G (Golden Parachute) analysis.