Health Care - Employment
COBRA
Stites & Harbison’s employee benefit attorneys counsel health care clients in matters including COBRA health plans, cafeteria plans, other employee group plans such as VEBAs, and employee fringe benefit plans. Our group's services not only extend to private-sector employers, but also answer the employee benefit plan needs of tax-exempt and governmental employers.
Our employee benefit attorneys are members of the Louisville Employee Benefits Council, Lexington Employee Benefits Council, Southern Employee Benefits Conference and the State Bars of Kentucky and Georgia.
Employee Benefits/ERISA/Executive Compensation
Stites & Harbison's employee benefits group helps private-sector, tax-exempt, and governmental employers develop, implement, and maintain qualified pension plans. These include profit sharing and money purchase pension plans, 401(k) plans, defined benefit pension plans, stock bonus plans, employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), and thrift or savings plans.
Our attorneys can design original plans or modify existing plans. In addition to qualified plan services, we serve clients in matters of executive compensation, including both stock and non-stock incentive plans and options and deferred compensation arrangements. We also counsel clients in matters of welfare benefits like health plans, cafeteria plans, other employee group plans such as VEBAs, and employee fringe benefit plans. In addition, our attorneys litigate ERISA matters in Federal and state courts, as reflected by our success in Mattei v. Mattei, 126 F.3d 794 (6th Cir. 1997), a precedent-setting case involving waiver of pension benefits in light of antenuptial agreements.
Stites & Harbison Earns 2024 Regional Top 10 Honors from ABA Health Law Section
The American Bar Association (ABA) Health Law Section has ranked Stites & Harbison, PLLC in its 12th Annual Regional Top 10 Law Firm Recognition List. The firm ranked 5th on the South Top 10 list for 2024. Stites & Harbison has been honored 11 consecutive times on the South list.
Jennifer Henry Jackson Selected for Ignite Louisville Class of Spring 2025
The Leadership Louisville Center has selected Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Jennifer Henry Jackson to participate in the Ignite Louisville Class of Spring 2025. The six-month class teaches the key components of leadership to young professionals between the ages of 25 and 45 years old.
2024 Kentucky Health Law Institute
The Campbell House, 1375 South Broadway, Lexington, Kentucky
Stites & Harbison attorney Kelly Bryant is on the Planning Committee for the 2024 Kentucky Health Law Institute presented by UK Rosenberg College of Law. Healthcare attorney Shea Luna will be one of the speakers. The Institute is being held in Lexington, Kentucky September 4-5,
Department of Labor and the Fair Labor Standards Act Exempt Salary Threshold Increase
On April 23, 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued its final rule raising the exempt classification minimum salary threshold. The change is effective beginning July 1, 2024. In addition, the salary threshold for highly compensated employees will raise as well. Finally, the rule also sets automatic increases every three years starting in January 2027. The final rule raises the minimum salary threshold to $844 per week, up from $684 per week. The next increase to $1,128 per week would be on January 1, 2025. For highly compensated employees the minimum threshold increases to $132,964 on July 1, 2024, with the next salary increase to $151,164 becoming effective January 1, 2025. Employment attorney Shannon Hamilton takes a look at the rule in this Stites & Harbison Client Alert.