Justin Alex

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Justin Alex is a senior associate and a member of the Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group.

Justin advises private and public companies on all aspects of their employee benefits and executive compensation arrangements and plans, including the treatment of such arrangements and plans in corporate financings and transactions.

In addition to Justin's general benefits and compensation practice, he spends a significant portion of his time advising employers and financial sponsors with respect to underfunded single-employer and multiemployer pension plans. As part of this practice, Justin often works hand-in-hand with Proskauer's labor and restructuring lawyers to find innovative and practical methods for clients to manage pension liabilities.

Connect: Read more about Justin Alex
Firm/Organization: Proskauer Rose LLP
Blogs: Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Blog, Tax Talks, The Capital Commitment

Latest Articles

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) launched a Pilot Mediation Project in October 2017 to provide plan sponsors an opportunity to negotiate resolutions in Early Warning Program cases and in termination liability cases (see our prior post). Following its trial run, the PBGC announced last month that it would make the Mediation Program permanent, and also expanded its use to include fiduciary breach cases involving terminated plans. The Mediation Program remains voluntary and…
The House Committee on Ways and Means publicly released a working draft of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for the first time on Thursday. In the weeks leading up to the release of the draft, speculation has swirled as to whether it would eliminate or otherwise limit the ability to make pre-tax employee deferrals into 401(k) plans.  The current draft of the bill would not impact 401(k) deferrals, but would bring other changes to…
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) launched a new Pilot Mediation Project to facilitate negotiations with (i) plan sponsors involved in corporate transactions under the purview of the PBGC’s Early Warning Program and (ii) the former plan sponsors of terminated pension plans that are subject to termination liability for the plans’ unfunded benefit liabilities.…
As we have previously reported (see here and here), bills to expand the scope of Section 162(m) and/or to narrow or eliminate the exceptions under Section 162(m) have been proposed in recent years, but have not become law. Recently, a new coalition named “Take On Wall Street” that is comprised of lawmakers (including Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)), union leaders, civil rights groups, and other community groups has announced plans to pursue five…
Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code generally limits the deductibility of compensation paid in excess of $1 million to the chief executive officer and the three other highest compensated officers (other than the chief financial officer) of a public corporation with securities registered under Section 12 of the Exchange Act. However, payments of certain commissions and “qualified performance-based compensation” under Section 162(m) are not subject to this limitation. As previously reported in our ERISA…
Posted in Tax
A recent decision by a Massachusetts federal court judge could expand liability for co-investing private funds.  On remand from the First Circuit, the District Court in Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund held that co-investing funds were part of a portfolio company’s “controlled group” and therefore potentially liable for the portfolio company’s multiemployer plan withdrawal liability. In doing so, the District Court (1) essentially substituted the statutory…
As we previously reported, in Sun Capital, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held in 2013 that a private investment fund, pursuant to the so-called “investment plus” test first articulated by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the PBGC), was engaged in a “trade or business” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA) and could therefore be part of a “controlled group” with one of its portfolio…
As of December 22, 2015, IRS Notice 2016-02 supersedes certain information in this blog entry. On July 6, 2015, President Obama signed the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015.  Among other things, the Trade Act retroactively reinstated the Health Coverage Tax Credit (HCTC), which had previously expired on January 1, 2014, and extended its availability through December 31, 2019.  As discussed below, the reinstated HCTC may require employers to update COBRA notices and summary…
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) recently finalized its premium filing requirements for 2015.  In addition to higher premium rates and other more minor changes, plan sponsors are now required to report information about the number of former employees involved in certain risk transfer activities (i.e., annuity purchases and lump sum windows) that occurred at least sixty days prior to the premium filing date in the current premium payment year or during the prior premium…
The PBGC has recently initiated efforts to enhance retirement security for Americans by promoting lifetime income options (i.e., annuitized benefits).  As part of these efforts, as well as those of the IRS and U.S. Department of Labor, the PBGC issued final regulations regarding the treatment of rollovers from defined contribution plans to defined benefit plans for purposes of the PBGC’s statutory guarantees under Title IV of ERISA.  The PBGC regulations are intended “to encourage people…