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Rochester

585.232.5600
585.232.7738 (fax)
trbauman@bklawyers.com
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Timothy R. Bauman is Chair of the firm’s Employee Benefits Department and with over 25 years of diverse employee benefits experience, a broad base of clients turn to Tim for his nationally-recognized expertise. Tim counsels sponsors of multiemployer and single-employer plans, companies, tax-exempt entities and executives on all matters of tax, ERISA, employee benefits and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements. He is well respected by his ERISA industry peers and is a Senior Editor of Employee Benefits Law, the nation’s leading treatise in the employee benefits area.

Sponsors of multiemployer and single-employer pension and welfare plans turn to Tim for all issues they confront including obtaining favorable determination letters, drafting and amending plan documents and summary plan descriptions, determining reporting and disclosure obligations, conducting due diligence on the investment plan assets, resolving funding issues, negotiating service provider agreements, and negotiating and completing mergers and terminations. In addition, he has defended benefit plan clients and fiduciaries against government investigations & audits.

Tim’s practice also involves providing advice as to the design, implementation, and administration of nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements, and addressing the needs of tax-exempt organizations regarding eligible and non-eligible deferred compensation plans under Code Section 457, broad-based plans, and 403(b) plans. He has extensive experience in counseling employers offering cafeteria plans and health reimbursement arrangements, too.

Timothy R. Bauman
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Areas Of PracticeEducation
  • Juris Doctor, 1993 Notre Dame Law School, Notre Dame, Indiana
    • Graduated Cum Laude
    • Notre Dame Law Review, 1991-1993 (Member and Research and Projects Editor)
    • Recipient, American Jurisprudence Award for Civil Procedure
  • Bachelor of Arts, English, 1990, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana
    • Graduated with High Honors
    • Phi Beta Kappa
Bar & Court Admissions
  • 1994, New York State
  • 1995, U.S. District Court, Northern District
  • 1996, U.S. District Court, Western District
  • 2002, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District
Significant Representations
  • Represented Trustees of various multiemployer defined benefit and defined contribution plans in a series of IRS audits where the IRS conducted onsite examinations of the plans and closely examined the plans’ administration and tax returns (Form 5500). Submitted position letters to the IRS addressing various issues. By letter, the IRS closed its audits without further action, noting that no change to the plans’ Forms 5500 were necessary.
  • Represented fiduciaries and Trustees of single employer and multiemployer plans who have participated in the IRS’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System and successfully negotiated acceptable closing agreements. These submissions, some of which have been anonymous, have involved pension service credit, retroactive amendments, and pension application forms, qualified joint and survivor annuity provisions, and covered employment issues. One single employer plan submission involved countless operational errors and a failure on the part of the plan sponsor to adopt a plan document appropriate for the kind of plan being offered.
  • Represented employer seeking to establish an unfunded non-qualified deferred compensation plan to be maintained under Internal Revenue Code Sections 457(f) and 409A, primarily for the purpose of providing deferred compensation to a select group of management or highly compensated employees.
  • Retained as special counsel to represent Trustees of several multiemployer welfare plans in U.S. Department of Labor HIPAA compliance audits. One particular audit was pending for about one year before my retention as special counsel. We determined that the plan failed to address Special Enrollment Rights and the Newborns’ and Mothers’ Health Protection Act. Drafted appropriate plan and summary plan description amendments and submitted said to the DOL with appropriate disclosure. The Department accepted this remedy as satisfactory and closed the audit without further action against the plan.
  • Represented numerous health reimbursement arrangements (“HRA’s”) in informal meetings with the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Treasury regarding application of the Service’s HRA guidance in various contexts.
  • Successfully negotiated change in IRS position regarding the retroactive effect of regulations on defined benefit plan participants already in pay status.
Publications
  • Senior Editor, Employee Benefits Law, 3d Edition (anticipated publication, 2011), Senior Editor, 2009-present, and Contributing Editor, 2001-present, Employee Benefits Law, 2d Edition, Cumulative Supplement
  • Co-Author, “ERISA Update: Year 2001 Status Report,” 48th Annual Institute, Center for American and International Law, 2001
  • Co-Author, “ERISA Update-Year 2000 Status Report,” 47th Annual Institute, Southwest Legal Foundation, 2000
  • Co-Author, “Developments in Employee Benefits 1999 – Litigation, Legislation Regulations,” 46th Annual Institute, Southwest Legal Foundation, 1999
  • Co-Author, “Arbitration Remedies,” AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, May 12-13, 1999, New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Contributing Editor, 1997-1999, The Developing Labor Law, 3d Edition, Cumulative Supplement
  • Author, “Fiduciary Duty to Disclose Proposed Benefit Changes in Employee Benefit Plans,” New York State Bar Association Labor and Employment Section Newsletter, 1998
  • Co-Author, “Medical Benefit Claims Update,” presented at New York State Bar Association Continuing Legal Education program, 1997.
Speaking Engagements
  • American Bar Association, Employee Benefits Committee Mid-Winter Meeting, Report of Subcommittee on Plan Design, Qualification, and Administration, 2003-2004, 2006-2008
  • Introduction to ERISA, Joint Meeting of Estate Planning Council of Central New York and Financial Services Professionals of Central New York, 2007
  • American Bar Association, Employee Benefits Committee Mid-Winter Meeting, Report of Subcommittee on Reporting and Disclosure, 2002
  • New York State Prosecutors Training Institute – Management Seminar For Upper Level Supervisors, 1999
  • Cornell University, New York State School of Industrial Relations, “Administering the Local Union,” 1998
Affiliations
  • American Bar Association (Member, Employee Benefits Committee and Past Co-Chair, Qualified Plans Subcommittee, Labor and Employment Section)
  • Employee Benefits Committee (Taxation Section and Health Law Section)
  • Monroe County, Onondaga County, and New York State (Member, Labor and Employment Law Section).