Neal Schelberg

Partner

Neal serves as legal counsel to numerous pension and welfare benefit plans subject to ERISA. His clients span a wide variety of industries, including professional sports, teamsters, building and construction, health care, industrial, wholesale and retail food and newspaper publishing. He has particular experience representing insolvent and financially distressed multiemployer pension plans.

He practices the full spectrum of employee benefits law. From advising on compliance issues, to negotiating benefit provisions in mergers and other business reorganizations and advising benefit plan clients and sponsors on investment transactions in traditional and alternative asset classes, Neal deftly hones in on the critical issues in order to protect the plan fiduciaries and meet their business needs.

Neal has been widely recognized as a leading employee benefits practitioner in Proskauer’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation Group which is rated “Tier 1” by The Legal 500 United States, a leading legal directory which rates firms and lawyers based on client feedback. Clients cite Neal as ‘one of a kind’ – he is the only practitioner in the field I would select to brief a CEO or corporate board.”

He is a former Chair of the ERISA Advisory Council, having been appointed to this position by the U.S. Secretary of Labor in 2014

Neal is a frequent lecturer and prolific author for many organizations such as the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, the Law Education Institute and the Practising Law Institute. He has also been quoted in numerous journals and periodicals.

He serves as a board member for the National Association of Drug Abuse Programs and the D.C. 9 Scholarship Fund.

Subscribe to all posts by Neal Schelberg

DOL Proposes Significant Changes to the QPAM Exemption – What You Need to Know

By Ira G. Bogner, Neal Schelberg, Steven Weinstein, Adam Scoll, Pamela Onufer and Rebecca Fishbein on August 10, 2022 Posted in Department of Labor

On July 27, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued notice of a proposed amendment (the “Proposed Amendment”) to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 (which is commonly referred to as the “QPAM Exemption”) that would (as described in more detail below) significantly amend certain of the exemption’s conditions, including: increasing the equity/net worth … Continue Reading

DOL Announces Temporary Enforcement Policy and Guidance to Address New Compensation Disclosure Requirements for Service Providers to Group Health Plans

By Neal Schelberg, Mary Grace Richardson and Andrea Ewalefo on January 24, 2022 Posted in Department of Labor, Disclosure

On December 30, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2021-03 (“FAB”), announcing its temporary enforcement policy for group health plan service provider disclosures under ERISA section 408(b)(2)(B). The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“CAA”) amended ERISA section 408(b)(2) to require “covered service providers” to disclose all direct or indirect … Continue Reading

ERISA Disclosure Requirements for Service Providers Extended to Group Health Plans

By Neal Schelberg, Anthony Cacace and Mary Grace Richardson on February 10, 2021 Posted in Disclosure

The recently enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (“CAA”) requires new disclosures for brokers and other consultants providing services to certain group health plans. Under the CAA, “covered service providers” must disclose their “direct” and “indirect” compensation above $1,000 received during the term of the contract or arrangement to a responsible plan fiduciary of a … Continue Reading

Proskauer to Speak at the 65th Annual International Foundation’s Annual Employee Benefits Conference

By Robert Projansky, Neal Schelberg and Anthony Cacace on October 16, 2019 Posted in Multiemployer Funds

Proskauer’s Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation Group will be attending and speaking at the 65th Annual Employee Benefits Conference hosted by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans. Robert Projansky, Neal Schelberg and Anthony Cacace will be leading conversations around hot topics in the industry. We welcome you to join any of our presentations, we … Continue Reading

[Podcast]: Cybersecurity & Employee Benefit Plans

By Miriam S. Dubin and Neal Schelberg on June 11, 2018 Posted in Benefits Brief Podcast

In this episode of the Proskauer Benefits Brief, partner Neal Schelberg and associate Miriam Dubin discuss cybersecurity issues impacting employee benefit plans. Data breaches are occurring with increased frequency in today’s digital environment. Benefit plans in particular are uniquely susceptible to cyber-risks because they store large amounts of sensitive employee information and share it with … Continue Reading

Clawbacks: Recent Litigation Targeting Insurers and Pharmacy Benefit Managers

By Neal Schelberg and Randall Bunnell on May 3, 2018 Posted in Fiduciary

While the term “co-pay” might suggest a sharing of costs between patients and their health plans, a recent study by the University of Southern California Schaeffer Center found that almost a quarter of patients are paying more than the full price for their prescription drugs under their insurance plans due to “clawbacks.” A prescription drug … Continue Reading

Exhaustion of Plan Administrative Remedies: Important Considerations Following Hitchcock v. Cumberland

By Lisa Schlesinger and Neal Schelberg on August 2, 2017 Posted in Benefit Claim Procedures

Recently, the Sixth Circuit ruled in Hitchcock v. Cumberland University 403(b) Plan that pension plan participants are not required to exhaust their plan’s administrative remedies before pursuing claims alleging statutory violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”).[i] In so deciding, the Sixth Circuit joined the majority of circuit courts … Continue Reading

Unpaid Employer Contributions as Plan Assets: Expansion Of Liability Under ERISA

By Aaron Feuer and Neal Schelberg on April 21, 2014 Posted in Collective Bargaining, Multiemployer Funds, Plan Assets

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (“ERISA”), requires trustees of multiemployer pension and benefit funds to collect contributions required to be made by contributing employers under their collective bargaining agreements (“CBAs”) with the labor union sponsoring the plans. This is not always an easy task—often, an employer is an incorporated entity … Continue Reading

District Court Limits the Collection of Withdrawal Liability Against Private Equity Funds

By Anthony Cacace and Neal Schelberg on May 9, 2013 Posted in Articles, Multiemployer Funds, Withdrawal Liability

In Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund, 2012 WL 5197117 (D. Mass. Oct. 18, 2012), a federal district court in Massachusetts concluded that a private equity fund was not a “trade or business” subject to the imposition of withdrawal liability and thus was not responsible for paying … Continue Reading

The View from Proskauer on Developments in the World of Employee Benefits, Executive Compensation & ERISA Litigation

Neal Schelberg