LAWS4430 · Law

Employee Benefits Law

Boston College Law School

Retirement plans, health insurance, and other employee benefit plans are central features of the employer-employee relationship in the United States. The legal regulation of such plans is highly relevant for the practice of corporate, labor, tax, trust, domestic relations, and health care law, and is at the forefront of current policy debates about health and retirement security for U.S. workers. The course will survey the main types of health and retirement plans and examine the rules governing coverage, vesting, funding, fiduciary standards, integration with Social Security, claims administration, remedies, and preemption of state law. It will also consider how the decline of traditional pension plans and the recent healthcare reform impact the existing regulatory scheme for employee benefits in both the private and public sectors.