Update on the DOMA Task Force

ERIC has concluded the last of the scheduled ERIC conference calls on DOMA. This included an initial comprehensive look at the Supreme Court’s decision on DOMA two days after release, followed by three conference calls of ERIC’s DOMA Task Force.

We would like to thank our speakers for these calls, who did an extraordinary job of reviewing the decision immediately after release and conveying its import to ERIC members in an extremely comprehensible fashion, despite the continuing lack of additional guidance from the government.

The speakers for these calls were as follows:

June 28, 2013: Anthony Shelley, Miller & Chevalier, discussed the general implications of the DOMA decision for plans and plan sponsors; Tom Meagher, Aon Hewitt, addressed the impact of the decision on retirement plans; and Leslye Laderman, Buck Consultants, analyzed the impact on health and welfare plans.

July 11, 2013, DOMA Task Force Call #1: Joan Disler, Epstein Becker Green, provided an overview of the DOMA decision and started the process of laying out the initial steps that employers should take in the aftermath of the decision and identified some of the initial questions that plans will need answered in the near future.

July 18, 2013: DOMA Task Force Call #2: Richard Shea and Robert Newman, Covington & Burling, addressed the implications of the DOMA decision for tax-qualified plans, executive compensation, and benefits taxation.

July 25, 2013: DOMA Task Force Call #3: Andy Anderson, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, addressed the effect of the DOMA decision on health and welfare benefits. We were also joined on this call by Robert Neis, Deputy Benefits Tax Counsel, Office of Tax Policy, with the Department of Treasury.

ERIC members and trial members can read more about the Task Force and next steps here.