Employee Benefits
Professional Experience
Heather’s practice focuses on assisting public and private sector plan sponsors, third party administrators, and other pension service providers in all aspects of employee benefit including retirement plan related issues. She assists and counsels them in complying with their fiduciary duties under ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code and other federal laws, including matters involving the qualification of state domestic relations orders, fiduciary responsibility, compliance, reporting and disclosure, and drafting of various qualified and non-qualified documents including amendments, Summary Plan Descriptions and Summaries of Material Modification, as well as welfare benefit plans.
She is a member of the Board of Directors Los Angeles Chapter of the National Institute of Pension Administrators (NIPA) and serves as their legal counsel. Heather is also a Professional member of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA). She currently serves on the 2010 Annual Joint ASPPA and Western Pension Benefits Conference Steering and Western Benefits Program Committees. She will be the Co-Chair of the 2011 Western Benefits Conference.
Publications and Presentations
Heather has written articles on employee benefits matters including the article “The Unintended Consequence of Providing Employee Benefits for Domestic Partners,” published in the Autumn 2007 issue of the Journal of Pension Benefits. The article was also republished in both the January 2008 issue of the Employer’s Handbook: Complying with IRS Employee Benefits Rules and the February 2008 issue of the Flex Plan Handbook. She also conducted a webcast on “Domestic Partner Benefits in California: How to Decipher the Latest Rules and Administer These Benefits Correctly at Your Workplace” for the Employer Research Institute.
Education
Heather received her J.D. from Southwestern University School of Law in 2005. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from California State University of Northridge in 2000.
