The 2017 Midwinter Meeting of the EBC was held at the Austin Hilton from February 8-11th in Austin, Texas. Over two hundred and fifty benefits lawyers and other professionals in the field attended, representing a broad spectrum of management, union, employee, and government practice areas. The two and a half day meeting provided panels and break-out sessions covering many aspects of cutting-edge issues from all perspectives. The city of Austin provided an exciting and tasty background to the event.
Even before the event formally began, two outreach events were held to interest law students in the practice of Employee Benefits law, one at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston and one at the University of Texas Law School in Austin. The panel at Thurgood Marshall was made up of Krisa Benskin, Mark Boudron, John Harney, Yolanda Montgomery and Simon Torres. At UT, the panel was Phyllis Borzi, Claude Cazzulino, Marcelle Henry, M'Alyssa Mecenas and Michelle Roberts Bartolic. Great thanks to John Harney for organizing the outreach and setting up both of these events. (See the separate article covering these events in this newsletter.)
The EBC Midwinter Meeting was unusual this year in that it was held within a month of the inauguration of President Trump and was preceded by just a few days by an Executive Order issued by the President addressing the Conflict of Interest Rule, which had been promulgated by the Department of Labor in 2016 and was scheduled to be applicable in April 2017. In addition, during the presidential campaign, then candidate Trump promised a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. While discussing new developments and issues arising under the current law throughout the meeting, there were also lively panels, including, "The Trump Presidency and the New Congress: What's Next?" and "DOL'S Conflict of Interest Rule and Related Exemptions: The Litigation Challenges and Next Steps."
A highlight of the Midwinter Meeting was the speech by Phyllis Borzi, who ended her tenure as Assistant Secretary of Labor for EBSA on January 20, 2017. She gave a retrospective of EBSA's work over the previous eight years. She highlighted the fact that in that tenure she had been part of two important and groundbreaking White House initiatives--the ACA and the Conflict of Interest Rule. She stated that she felt that her work with the White House had resulted in making health insurance accessible to millions of Americans who had been without health care coverage, in doing away with insurance denials based on pre-existing conditions, in maintaining coverage for children up to twenty-six years old on their parents' plan, in providing many preventive services without co-pays, in ending annual and life-time limits on insurance coverage and in providing many other benefits through the ACA. EBSA's work with the White House on the Conflict of Interest Rule resulted in wide-ranging protections to Americans when they invest their retirement funds. Phyllis acknowledged the hard work of her agency staff who had tirelessly drafted regulations under the ACA and on promulgating the Conflict of Interest Rule. She received a standing ovation, acknowledging her decades of service in the public interest and her dedication and leadership in carrying out the mission of the agency that she led.
The EBC has been fortunate to have had the highest ranking government official in the field attend each EBC Midwinter Meeting during her tenure--once by video when she was unable to travel to the meeting. Government participation is a key part of the EBC program at the Midwinter Meeting. Phyllis's long involvement in the EBC, her support for the EBC by encouraging and supporting government participation in the Committee, and her accessibility to Committee members at the meetings were valuable to practitioners from all perspectives. We hope and expect to see Phyllis at our next EBC meeting, sharing her insight on the issues in the employee benefits world. Likewise, we hope that government attorneys will continue to be encouraged to participate as their involvement has provided the Committee with valuable information and perspective.
Panels covering both litigation and compliance issues relating to pension and welfare plans provided up to date information to the attendees. Panels were balanced with speakers from each constituency--plaintiffs, unions, government and management. Representatives from the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corporation participated in a number of panels. Often, the members of the panel were personally involved in the hotly contested litigation that was the subject of the presentation. The EBC has a deep history of collegiality even when presenting opposing views. The panels covered topics such as updates of fiduciary cases, multiemployer plan legislation, medical service provider claims, the impact of new IRS rules on severance agreements and determination letters, church plan cases, class action waivers, litigation of individual claims, the new disability regulations, ethics, handling a DOL audit, and mental health parity litigation--among others.
Gail Golman Holtzman, Section Chair, Joseph J. Torres, Employer Council Liaison, and Eunice Washington, Union and Employee Council Liaison, updated the work of the Section. There was much excitement and discussion about the work on the Fourth Edition of the Employee Benefits Law Treatise and the next Supplement. EBC members are encouraged to volunteer to update what has become a key resource for employee benefits practitioners. We thank all of the contributors working on the new edition and, in particular, the co-editors, Ivelisse Berio Lebeau, Jeffrey Lewis and Myron D. Rumeld. Please contact the co-editors if you would like to participate, would like more information about our subcommittee system or would like to write a portion of, or edit the book.
The annual Diversity Luncheon was well-attended and provided an interactive program entitled, "Equity Matters: Creating an Inclusive Space in the Legal Profession" led by Kazique J. Prince, Ph.D. The program provided strategies for giving higher priority to diversity and inclusion. The program encouraged participants to share their experiences facing their own encounters with diversity issues and to become active by building equity into legal organizations. This important part of the program was sponsored by the Clark Law Group, PLLC and DeBofsky, Sherman & Casciari P.C.
As usual, the event provided many networking and social opportunities to the attendees. We started early Thursday morning with a "First-time attendees/Young lawyers" breakfast, followed in the afternoon by a "Meet the Leadership" reception, the Women's Lunch, and an evening networking event at the Speakeasy that included food, dancing with a live band, and rooftop socializing in the heart of Austin's downtown scene.
We thank all of the law firms that sponsored the meeting or a specific event. The ongoing support is vital to the success of the Midwinter Meeting. We also want to thank the Programming Committee for its hard work and dedication in developing the sessions and selecting speakers who make the EBC Midwinter Meetings a must-attend conference year in and year out.
We hope to see you all at next year's Midwinter Meeting in the warm and collegial venue of Clearwater Beach, Florida, February 7-10, 2018. As we write, changes in the benefits field are occurring every day and the benefits landscape will serve as a basis for many valuable discussions next year.
From the Co-chairs
Judith Broach, Union Co-chair: [email protected]
Marjorie Butler, Public Co-chair: [email protected]
Denise Clark, Employee Co-chair: [email protected]
Al Holifield, Employer Co-chair: [email protected]