Dominic is a partner in the firm’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice group. He focuses his practice on design, implementation and administration of a wide range of employee benefit programs, with an emphasis on compliance of tax-qualified and nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements with ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code (such as the tax qualification rules, 409A, and excise tax provisions), and other applicable laws and rules. He has significant practical and policy experience across a wide range of employee benefits arrangements with a particular emphasis on employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), 401(k) and other defined contribution plans, association multiple employer plans (MEPs), pooled employer plans (PEPs) and other open MEPs, multiemployer plans, and defined benefit plans, particularly those that provide for shared risk, such as cash balance plans and variable annuity plans. He is a frequent speaker on a wide range of ERISA and tax issues related to employee benefit plans.
Dominic frequently represents clients before the various governmental agencies that regulate employee benefit plans, including private letter ruling requests, comment letters and other stakeholder meetings regarding regulatory and policy issues. He also has extensive experience representing clients in connection with investigations, audits, and similar inquiries related to their benefit plans brought by the Department of Labor, IRS, and PBGC as well as with various correction programs established by the agencies such as the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) and the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). Dominic assists clients with the design and implementation of defined benefit risk transfer transactions, including bulk lump sum offers and annuity purchase transactions, navigating cutting-edge questions such as plan fiduciary obligations under ERISA regarding protection of retirement plan data, as well as with employee benefits issues associated with corporate transactions.
Prior to joining Thompson Hine, Dominic was a partner in the Washington D.C. office of an Am Law Global 100 firm. His experience also includes having served in the capacity of attorney-advisor in the Office of the Benefits Tax Counsel at the Department of the Treasury in Washington, D.C. In that role, he was actively involved in developing taxation policies and guidance related to qualified and nonqualified deferred compensation plans with a concentration on ESOPs, cash balance and other hybrid pension plans, governmental plans, 409A, 457(f), nondiscrimination, and multiemployer plans. His work included close collaboration with legal advisors and actuaries from the Office of Chief Counsel at the IRS, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the Department of Labor.
While at Treasury, he was a key advisor in developing regulations and guidance that led to the implementation of the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 and a frequent speaker on a range of benefits tax issues such as ESOPs.
