Gary A. Thayer Email & Phone Number

Mr. Thayer counsels multiemployer benefit funds on all aspects of regulatory and fiduciary compliance. He provides expertise industry-wide in the area of defined benefit, defined contribution pension plan management and welfare plan management. Aside from giving legal advice involving the daily regulatory issues that arise during the course of operating a benefit fund, he counsels Trustees and Fund Administrators on their fiduciary obligations, plan design, and service provider retention. Mr. Thayer represents clients during all phases of investigations conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employee Benefits Security Administration, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and Office of Labor Management Standards), Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Solicitor and Attorney General.Mr. Thayer was previously employed as an Investigator for the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. He examined employee benefit plans to determine their compliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), DOL Regulations, and other civil and criminal statutes, and monitored the conduct of plan fiduciaries. He advised plan fiduciaries of their statutory responsibilities under ERISA and successfully worked alongside the U.S. Attorneys’ Office and U.S. Solicitor of Labor to prosecute individuals charged with fiduciary misconduct. He is a recipient of two Secretary of Labor Exceptional Achievement Awards for outstanding service.Mr. Thayer has served on the ERISA Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans in which he was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Labor to advise on issues important to the administration of ERISA. He frequently lectures on employee benefit fund topics at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and local Bar Associations and Universities in the New York region, and is a member of the National Coordinating Committee of Multiemployer Plans.

Listed skills include Erisa, Employee Benefits, Civil Litigation, Employment Law, and 43 others.