Doug Heffernan is a partner in the Minneapolis office. He practices exclusively in the law of employee benefits and executive compensation. Doug joined the firm in 1982.

In his practice Doug mainly represents employers, although he also works with providers of financial products and services. Doug's practice includes the full range of legal services an employer traditionally expects from employee benefits counsel, including matters related to:

• Qualified defined benefit pension plans (including "cash balance" plans)
• Profit sharing and stock bonus plans (including 401(k) plans), and money purchase pension plans
• Nonqualified deferred compensation plans
• Health, disability, and life insurance plans

Doug also has expertise in certain areas that are not as common among employee benefits lawyers:

• Collective bargaining and special employee benefit rules applicable to multiemployer pension plans. Doug has worked for many years with the Twin Cities hospitals in connection with the various multiemployer pension plans for nurses and other hospital workers, including the Twin City Hospitals - Minnesota Nurses Association Pension Plan. This experience includes both collective bargaining negotiations regarding pension matters and on-going administration matters for the multiemployer pension plans.
• Special employee benefits rules applicable to tax-exempt, church, and governmental employers. This includes experience with qualified 401(a) church and governmental plans, 403(b) tax sheltered annuities and 403(b)(7) custodial accounts, and 457 deferred compensation issues. Doug used his expertise in those areas to assist the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan, and Capital University (Ohio) in redesigning their faculty retirement plans after the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Doug also currently advises a number of other colleges on retirement plan matters.
• Issues regarding ERISA litigation, fiduciary duties, and prohibited transactions. This experience includes both counseling clients to resolve the problem as well as working with our litigation lawyers in court proceedings.
• Employee benefit issues arising in connection with corporate sales or acquisitions, or other corporate organization changes. This includes analyzing "affiliated service group" and "leased employee" issues arising from joint ventures.

Honors

Professional Associations

• Great Lakes Area Tax Exempt/Government Entities (TE/GE) Council, Member
• Minnesota State Bar Association, Past-Chair of Employee Benefits Section
• National Association of College and University Attorneys
• Midwest Pension Conference
• Minneapolis Pension Council, President

Presentations

• Employee Benefits Developments – a Year in Review
  Minneapolis Pension Council (September 2011)
• ERISA Fee Disclosure and ERISA Fiduciaries
  Faegre & Benson (December 2010)
• Employee Benefits Law Update: Plan Expense Reporting and Health Care Reform
  Twin Cities HR Roundtable (June 2010)
• 403(b) Regulatory Compliance and Reporting
  Larson Allen CPE Seminar (February 2010)
• IRS Update on Deferred Compensation
  Minnesota CLE Advanced Employee Benefits Workshop (January 2010)
• Minnesota Source Taxation of Deferred Compensation
  Minneapolis Pension Council (December 2008)
• A 409A Update and How 409A is Changing 457(f)
  Minnesota CLE Advanced Employee Benefits Workshop (January 2008)
• Decoding the Final 409A Regulations
  Faegre & Benson (2007)
• Decoding 409A: New Proposed Regulations on Deferred Compensation
  Bank Holding Company Association Spring Seminar (2006)
• Decoding 409A: New Proposed Regulations on Deferred Compensation
  Faegre & Benson (2005)
• IRS Circular 230 -- Perils of Giving Tax Advice for Benefits Practitioners
  MSBA Employee Benefits Section (2005)
• New Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Guidance Released: An Employer's Action Plan for Compliance
  Faegre & Benson (2005)
• Cafeteria Plans: Section 125/COBRA
  Lorman Education Services (2004)
• Recent Tax Law Changes for Retirement Plans Sponsored by Colleges and Universities
  Tax Institute for Colleges and Universities, Indiana University (2002)
• Benefit Plans for Tax-Exempt Employers
  Advanced Employee Benefits Workshop, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education (2002)
• New Comparability/Cross Testing Regulations
  Qualified/Nonqualified Deferred Compensation, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education (2001)
• Use of the 401(k) Safe Harbors
  Qualified/Nonqualified Deferred Compensation, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education (2000)
• Executive Compensation Trends and Developments
  Advanced Employee Benefits Workshop, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education (2000)
• "Deep Discount" Options on the Stock of a Third Party as an Alternative to Traditional Deferred Compensation
  Qualified/Nonqualified Deferred Compensation, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education (1999)
• 403(b) Plan Audits and IRS Compliance Programs
  Tax Institute for Colleges and Universities, Indiana University (1999)
• 401(k) v. 403 (b) Retirement Plans
  Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants (1997)
• Current Developments for Retirement Plans for Employees of Tax-Exempt and Governmental Organizations
  Employee Benefits Institute, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education (1997)
• Plans for Nonprofits
  Employee Benefits Workshop, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education (1997)

Legal Updates