Paul R. Lang

Paul Lang joined Dow Lohnes in 1983, has specialized in employee compensation and benefits matters since 1984 and became a Member of the firm in 1992. He is the leader of the Compensation Employee Relations and Benefits practice group, where he counsels human resource professionals, in-house counsel, trustees, compensation committees and third party administrators regarding the design, operation, compliance and best practices for all types of compensation and employee benefit plans.

Mr. Lang routinely works with:

• qualified and non-qualified defined benefit and defined contribution plans (including QSERPS, 401(k) plans, ESOPs, KSOPs, SERPs, top-hat plans, and deleveraging strategies for defined benefit plans); 
• welfare benefit plans (including health, life, LTD, STD, and severance plans); 
• equity compensation arrangements (including stock options, restricted stock, RSU, stock purchase and phantom stock plans); 
• fringe benefits (including use of corporate aircraft, relocation packages and tuition reimbursement); and 
• funding vehicles (including cafeteria plans, VEBAs, 401(h) accounts, rabbi and secular trusts, split-dollar life insurance and corporate-owned life insurance).

The firm’s practice has also given him broad exposure to representing: 

• parties to corporate transactions; 
• individual executives in negotiating employment and separation agreements; 
• tax-exempt organizations in the design and implementation of tax-deferred annuities (403b) and deferred compensation (457) plans; and 
• schools in designing incentive plans compliant with Department of Education restrictions.

Mr. Lang also advises clients regarding payroll and income tax reporting and withholding, and in conjunction with the firm’s tax group, represents clients in tax controversies involving employee compensation and benefits.
His practice requires him to regularly provide advice regarding compliance with a myriad of federal statutes, including ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code (including 162(m), 280G -- golden parachutes, 409A -- deferred compensation, FICA and FUTA), the Securities Exchange Act (including 16(b) compliance, 10b5-1 plans, and S-8 and proxy disclosure), HIPAA, COBRA, GINA, ADEA, and SOX, as well as state tax laws (including payroll, income and “source” taxes), and the enforcement of restrictive covenants (including non-competition, non-solicitation and confidentiality provisions). He has devoted substantial time to the PPACA health care reform, helping clients obtain funding through ERRP, and counseling them regarding overall compliance, including retaining grandfather status.