Labor & Employment Associate

Core Responsibilities

• ERISA & Benefits Compliance: Plan, structure, and audit qualified and non-qualified employee benefit plans, ensuring strict compliance with ERISA, tax codes, and regulatory frameworks.
• Executive Compensation Architecture: Draft, structure, and negotiate sophisticated executive employment contracts, equity-based incentive plans (incentive stock options, phantom stock), deferred compensation arrangements, and separation packages.
• Transactional Due Diligence: Partner directly with the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) division to direct comprehensive benefits due diligence, identify hidden liabilities, and manage post-closing workforce integrations.
• Employment Litigation Defense: Represent employers and corporate management in state and federal courts against claims involving discrimination, wage and hour violations, restrictive covenants, and ERISA disputes.
• Regulatory Advocacy: Guide corporate leadership through sensitive internal investigations, and defend employers during audits and inquiries by the Department of Labor (DOL), IRS, and EEOC.

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 3–5 years of dedicated labor and employment or corporate transactional experience, with a heavy emphasis on employee benefits (ERISA) and executive compensation.
• Procedural Literacy: Robust understanding of Internal Revenue Code Section 409A, federal and state labor statutes, and transactional closing mechanics.
• Technical Integration: Advanced proficiency utilizing legal document management systems, digital case notebooks, and enterprise collaboration suites.
• Credentials: Juris Doctor (JD) degree from an accredited law school and active, good-standing licensure with the North Carolina State Bar.